They had previously left the Soviet Union to live in New York City in 1987 but returned to Russia for Kenin's birth so that other family members could help raise her initially.

[4] Kenin began playing in United States Tennis Association (USTA) girls' 10-and-under tournaments at the age of seven, and became the top-ranked player in Florida in that division.

[5] Kenin had the opportunity to interact with ATP and WTA tennis players as a young child, including hitting with Anna Kournikova at age seven, partnering with Jim Courier against Venus Williams and Todd Martin as part of an exhibition event,[9][10] and receiving a tour of the Miami Open from Kim Clijsters.

[12] Towards the end of the year, she made her Grade-A debut at the Orange Bowl, reaching the semifinals in singles and finishing runner-up in doubles with Kaitlyn McCarthy to Tornado Alicia Black and Naiktha Bains.

[13] Kenin made her junior Grand Slam debut in 2014, but only recorded one match win in singles while playing in the latter three events of the year.

At the US Open, she again produced one of her best results of the year, losing in the semifinals to Viktória Kužmová, after upsetting the top seed Anastasia Potapova in the previous round.

[19][20] Kenin began playing low-level tournaments on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2013 and won her first two professional matches at the age of 14.

[9] The following year, Kenin won her first two ITF titles, the first at a $25k event in Wesley Chapel in Florida and the second at a $50k Sacramento Challenger in California.

Kenin's success at the US Open helped convince her to turn professional in September, foregoing a scholarship to attend the University of Miami.

[29] After losing her first-round match at the Australian Open, Kenin produced good results at both Premier Mandatory events in March.

[42] The following month, Kenin reached another WTA final at the Mexican Open, finishing runner-up to Wang Yafan despite being up a set and a break.

[53] Two weeks later, she partnered with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to win her second doubles title of the year at the China Open, a Premier Mandatory event.

After Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu both withdrew, she had the opportunity to play one match, losing to defending champion Elina Svitolina.

[62] With the victory at just 21 years old, she became the youngest American woman to win a major singles title since Serena Williams won Wimbledon in 2002.

She defeated Australian wild card player Maddison Inglis in the first round but was upset by the unseeded Kaia Kanepi in the second, in straight sets.

"[74] She then received a wild card for the Phillip Island Trophy, a tournament for players who suffered an early exit at the Australian Open, where she was the top seed and in receipt of a first-round bye.

Withdrawing from numerous tournaments after suffering from appendicitis, Kenin made her return at Miami, where, with a first-round bye, she defeated Andrea Petkovic before falling to Ons Jabeur in three sets.

At the French Open, she reached the fourth round, defeating Jeļena Ostapenko, Hailey Baptiste and Jessica Pegula, before falling to Maria Sakkari.

Kenin began her season at the Auckland Open, beating Wang Xinyu in the first round before losing to top seed and eventual champion Coco Gauff.

[84] She reached the second round at Indian Wells, after defeating Sloane Stephens in the first,[85] before losing to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in two close sets.

Following reaching her first singles final since 2020 at the San Diego Open as a wildcard where she lost to fourth seed Barbora Krejčíková,[92] she moved 40 positions up close to the top 50.

[102] Partnering with Bethanie Mattek Sands she won the Abu Dhabi Open, overcoming Linda Nosková and Heather Watson in the final.

[105] Kenin won her first tour-level singles match since January at the Italian Open, defeating Lucia Bronzetti in straight sets.

[106] During the match Kenin disagreed with the chair umpire and tournament supervisor's decision to keep players on court during rain, in response to the decision and boos from the crowd Kenin shouted expletives in both English and Russian, receiving an audible obscenity warning, before breaking Bronzetti to get the match back on serve.

[112] At the beginning of her grass court season at the WTA 500 Eastbourne International, she entered the main draw as a lucky loser replacing top seed Elena Rybakina,[113] directly into the second round where she lost to Harriet Dart in three sets.

[125] At the next and last Asian swing tournament of the season, the 2024 Hong Kong Tennis Open, Kenin reached back-to-back quarterfinals defeating Jessika Ponchet, having received a wildcard into the main singles draw.

[126] Kenin reached the quarterfinals at the Hobart International with wins over fifth seed Lulu Sun[127] and Anna Blinkova,[128] before losing to wildcard entrant Maya Joint.

Both teams were missing their best players, with the Williams sisters, Sloane Stephens, and Madison Keys for the United States, as well as Plíšková and Petra Kvitová for the Czech Republic all unavailable.

[134][135] The United States advanced to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals where they were drawn in a round-robin group with Spain and Slovakia.

She had previously been described by Maria Sharapova as more of a "grinder," that is, a counter-puncher who has good movement and gets a lot of balls back in play without trying to end points.