Australian Open 2025: 25 favorites to watch out for | No. 24, Women's Singles

As an Australian Open champion, Sofia Kenin will always be someone to watch out for at the Major. After all, it is this venue that she had her big career breakthrough back in 2020. The American’s consistent baseline hitting saw her get the better of Garbine Muguruza, Ashleigh Barty, and Coco Gauff en route to the title. However, things have gone south for Kenin since.

Injuries, changes in her core team, and a loss of momentum saw Kenin drop out of the top 100 but she is slowly building back. The 2024 season was a solid one for her as she posted some encouraging results. Wins over Emma Raducanu and Caroline Garcia on the Grand Slam stage as well as a big WTA 500 final at the Pan Pacific Open meant that she was back in the top 100 and no longer having to worry about receiving wildcards into Grand Slam main draws.

The back end of 2024 was especially encouraging for Kenin, whose run at the Pan Pacific Open saw her beat a very diverse group of players. She took out the guileful Daria Kasatkina, the big-serving Katie Boulter, and a power-hitter in the form of Clara Tauson before falling against Zheng Qinwen in the summit clash, jumping over 70 spots in the world ranking. The American followed that run with a quarterfinal in Hong Kong and will look to carry the momentum into the new.

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Something about the Australian Open series agrees with Sofia Kenin

Sofia Kenin had lifted the first title of her career at Hobart. (Source: Getty)

Something about the Australian Open series agrees with Sofia Kenin. Before attaining big-stage success at the 2020 Australian Open, she lifted her first career title Down Under at the 2019 Hobart International. Given that she isn't the biggest striker of the tennis ball, she must like playing in hot conditions in Australia which help the balls fly just a tad bit faster through the air, adding that little extra sting to her groundstrokes that's missing in slower conditions.

When playing at her best, Kenin can go toe-to-toe with most players from the baseline and rarely gives away cheap points. She may not be thinking about getting back to winning Grand Slams just yet, but there are definite signs of a revival. The youngster needs to string a few wins together to renew her confidence, which would have taken a hit after her three back-to-back first-round losses at the Australian Open.

If she can do that and get back to swinging freely, there's no reason why Kenin cannot post another surprise run Down Under.