It's not every day you can play an idol—twice. Kenin did, and went 2-0

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va.—Venus Williams is the most famous name in the 2020 World TeamTennis field, but she's far from the highest ranked. That honor goes to 21-year-old Sofia Kenin, the WTA No. 4 who dispatched Venus twice on Saturday during Philadelphia's 22-14 win over Washington.

Lookin at the men and women competing at The Greenbrier this month, Kenin is 20 ranking spots ahead of the highest-ranked male, her teammate Taylor Fritz. She is now 4-1 in singles—her only loss came against Kim Clijsters—and the Freedoms are first in the league standings.

Having been a child prodigy and meeting many famous players when she was still in kindergarten, you'd expect it to be a little surreal for Kenin to face one of her idols.

"I've had have a few idols, of course," Kenin says. "But she's one of them. She's an icon to me as well so I was pretty tight going into the match. I knew it was going to be an amazing experience, so I was super happy to be playing against her and to get the win it was even better.

A young Kenin with Todd Martin and Venus.

"I wanted to obviously play well, I didn't want to play badly against her. I tried not to focus on the fact that I'm playing Venus Williams and tried to focus on myself. To show that I'm Sofia Kenin is obviously the cherry on top."

Kenin traded baseline rallies with purpose, while the seven-time Grand Slam champion sprayed a few too many unforced errors. But it wasn't just a case of the 40-year-old breaking down. At 3-1 in the first set, Kenin had two break opportunities, but Venus' serve bailed her out. Instead of suffering a letdown, Kenin raced to win the next game, and then broke on a bold backhand return winner. At 4-1, she capitalized on her second set point with another backhand winner.

"I knew I needed to come out playing my best game," Kenin says. "I'm happy with the way things went my way. I had a game plan and I stuck to it, and it worked for me."

Kenin is 15-5 on the WTA season with two titles, the Australian Open and Lyon. She got some of the latest action in before the shutdown, with Lyon finishing on March 8, and also picked up some rhythm at the Credit One Bank Invitational in Charleston in June.

Kenin is in strong form so far in her rookie season, with a 4-1 singles record. (Ryan Loco)

"I really enjoyed it," Kenin says of Charleston. "I really liked the environment. It makes everything a lot more special. We're all used to playing by ourselves, a team atmosphere is always good just like this."

Venus is currently ranked No. 67 and is eager for matches, having gone 0-3 before the tour shutdown. It's not too big of a shock seeing her at The Greenbrier, given that she has been a mainstay in the WTT family for two decades.

"My first season was in 2000 and I remember having the best time, and this unbelievable experience of playing on a team," Venus says. "I was blown away and I've been coming back pretty much every season since, and hope to be playing for quite a few years to come."

In typical WTT fashion, the Saturday match between the Freedoms and the Kastles was a rematch of the day prior. On Friday, Venus had made her 2020 season debut, losing in doubles with Anastasia Rodionova and winning in mixed with Marcelo Arevalo.

Venus hasn't found her rhythm yet at The Greenbrier. (Ryan Loco)

Venus later said the matches went by "so fast," and she didn't have time to settle in mentally. She didn't seem settled in just yet on Saturday: After her singles loss, she and Rodionova lost 5-1 in to Kenin and Caroline Dolehide. Kenin has won two career WTA doubles titles (Auckland and Beijing in 2019), and her aggressive game style complimented Dolehide, who was able to clean up at the net.

Kenin is eager to get more wins for the Freedoms this month, but she has a bigger purpose in mind for 2020: the US Open will be the first Grand Slam since she won the crown in Melbourne.

"Playing matches is definitely going to help me get ready for the US Open," Kenin says. "It gives me more confidence. I feel like I'm going to come to the Open prepared having matches under my belt."

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