Tearful Kenin crumbles under pressure of title defence

A tearful Sofia Kenin admitted the pressure of defending a Grand Slam title for the first time had proved too great after she tumbled out of the Australian Open in the second round on Thursday.

The 22-year-old American looked a shadow of the player that won her first major title at Melbourne Park and reached the French Open final last season as she succumbed 6-3 6-2 to Estonian veteran Kaia Kanepi on Margaret Court Arena.

Ashen-faced, with her eyes already blotchy before she sat down for her post-match media conference, Kenin struggled to hold back the tears as she explained what had happened out on court.

“My head wasn’t there,” she said. “Obviously I’m not going to take any credit away from her. She played really well at those good points.

“I had chances. I just couldn’t take it. I obviously know why because the nerves big-time got to me.”

The tears returned again when she was asked about the pressure of defending the title, adding that she knew retaining the trophy would be a tall order given her mental state.

“I’m not there 100% physically, mentally, my game. Everything just feels real off obviously. It’s not good,” she added.

“It’s weird. I’ve been practicing for two weeks. Luckily I’ve been able to practice. I felt fine in practice. Just couldn’t do that in the game.”

Russian-born Kenin said she had not decided where she would play next but admitted she had a lot of thinking to do about how to arrest the slump in her form.

“I know I couldn’t really handle the pressure,” she said.

“I’m not obviously used to this, so right now I just got to figure out how to play at that level that I played at. Because like today and those matches, it just hasn’t been there.”

The exit of the fourth seed, even at the hands of a player who last week was ranked 94th in the world, was not the surprise it might have been given that Kenin had been talking about struggling with her nerves since finishing quarantine.

“The Australia trip, that was something that I had my eye on,” she said.

“I knew I was going to have pressure. I knew I was going to have emotions, nerves, everything all together. Yeah, for sure Australia, the Aussie swing, definitely got me.”

Kenin’s exit opens up that half of the draw for world number one Ashleigh Barty, who ended up making hard work of her all-Australian affair with Daria Gavrilova.

Barty looked on course for a comfortable win on the Rod Laver Arena as she was serving for that match at 6-1 5-2 before a Gavrilova comeback, where she broke serve twice, saw her take the second set to tiebreak.

Barty, who has had the best part of a year off after opting not to travel during the coronavirus pandemic, survived set points to eventually win 6-1 7-6 (7).

The 24-year-old is not allowing Kenin’s defeat to enter her mind.

“Doesn’t affect me whatsoever,” she said. “I’ve just been playing my own match and controlling what I can control from my end. Without even being aware that she was playing today, no disrespect to anyone, but I don’t look much at the schedule except for when I’m scheduled to play.”

Barty was seen wearing heavy strapping on her left leg, but says there are no concerns.

“The bandage is very big, but that’s more just support so that the tape itself doesn’t fall off,” she added. “It’s not a very subtle tape job, you often see it on a lot of the girls. The guys can hide it beneath their shorts a little bit better.

“I played a lot of matches in the last 10 days after not playing for 12 months, which is natural. It’s more of an assistance than anything else.”

Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova could be one to watch after she beat Danielle Collins 7-5 6-2 while 11th seed Belinda Bencic needed three sets to get past Sveltlana Kuznetsova.