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Leylah Annie Fernandez reacts against Aryna Sabalenka during her semifinals match on Sept. 9, 2021.
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On Saturday, Canada’s newest tennis sensation, Leylah Annie Fernandez, will star in the first all-teen final at a Grand Slam since Serena Williams outslugged Martina Hingis at the 1999 U.S. Open.
The youngster from Laval, Que., has turned the WTA Tour on its ear in Flushing Meadows, pushing all the pressure across the net onto the shoulders of her older, higher-ranked opponents. That is all about to change at Arther Ashe Stadium in the final, as she faces a competitor also authoring a plucky Cinderella story.
Fresh off her 19th birthday this week, Fernandez will actually be the older player vying for the women’s championship. Emma Raducanu’s story is even more unlikely than the Canadian’s.
Ranked 150th in the world, the 18-year-old Brit went through qualifying to get into this tournament, and was the first qualifier to make the semis in the Open Era. In just her second Grand Slam appearance, Raducanu has yet to drop a set in Flushing Meadows, which makes her the Vegas favourite to win. Unlike Fernandez, though, she hasn’t had to face anyone in the top 10.
Fernandez already has one WTA title under her belt – in March at the Monterrey Open – while Raducanu has never made a final.
The crowds in New York have been every bit as enchanted with Raducanu as they have Fernandez. They’ve bellowed for all of her amazing shots and fist pumps, too.
“I have a hunger to win every single match I play,” Raducanu told the broadcast this week. “I feel confident and happy with how I’m performing.”
Sound familiar?
One unlikely, unseeded teen making it to the U.S. Open final would have been jaw-dropping on its own. But two of them in the same final?
“I’m super interested to see how both of them handle this situation, this new dynamic of each suddenly facing someone who is also young and unexpected in a big final,” said Sylvain Bruneau, who was Bianca Andreescu’s coach when she won the 2019 U.S. Open. “It’s going to be fireworks … maybe a new rivalry and the first of many matches we’ll see between them in the future.”
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Fernandez already has one WTA title under her belt – in March at the Monterrey Open.
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Fernandez will be just the fourth Canadian Grand Slam singles finalist on Saturday, following Milos Raonic, Genie Bouchard and Andreescu – the only champ.
Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime won’t be joining the list this year. After a stirring run of his own in this tournament, he suffered a straight-sets loss to the relentless world No. 2 Daniil Medevedev in his Friday afternoon semi-final, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2. It was Auger-Aliassime’s best result at a Grand Slam.
Canada’s other semi-finalist, Gaby Dabrowski of Ottawa, also finished her U.S. Open in women’s doubles on Friday. Her partner, Luisa Stefani, suffered a leg injury and the duo surrendered to Americans Coco Gauff and Caty McNally.
Family is at the heart of Leylah Annie Fernandez’s tennis success
The thing that strikes a first-time finalist in New York, says Bruneau, is the stark contrast between the busy and excited grounds at the U.S. Open on the final day, and the eerily quiet player areas, suddenly inhabited by just two finalists. There are lots more demands on your time as a player and a coach in those final days. All the major broadcasters are vying to speak with you. And the noise on match day – it’s next level.
Before the main draw began, online bookmaker Bodog had Fernandez listed at 10,000-to-1 odds to win the Open. She kicked off the tournament ranked No. 73 and will now catapult inside the top 30, thanks to her run in New York.
Her total career earnings on the WTA Tour (US$786,772) are about to swell. The U.S. Open singles champ earns US$2.5-million while the runner-up gets US$1.25-million (the men and women earn equal prize money at this event).
Fernandez fought through the toughest portion of the draw, and had to slay top WTA players such as No. 5 Elina Svitolina, No. 3 Naomi Osaka, and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka on her way to the final. Perhaps it also speaks to the field in the WTA Tour – the top 10 are inconsistent and beatable when there is a player such as Fernandez or Raducanu who believes she belongs.
“We can’t get enough of you Leylah,” ESPN broadcaster Rennae Stubbs said while interviewing the youngster live on court this week.
“It’s fascinating to watch this young player grow right in front of us,” added ESPN tennis analyst Brad Gilbert on the broadcast of Thursday’s semi-final.
Fernandez, of Laval, Que., has been resilient. Down a set, down a break, Fernandez has problem-solved her way out. She remains calm beyond her years no matter if her opponents are melting down or delivering blows. She looks for openings on the court, she uses slices and drop shots, finds precise angles. She doesn’t get overly excited when her foe makes a mistake. The teenager stays consistent and senses just the right moment to incite the crowd to roar for her.
“She’s like a peaceful warrior,” said Bruneau, who is also Tennis Canada’s head of women’s pro and transition tennis. “I remember the first time I was ever on a court with her – she was maybe 11 – and I remember thinking ‘how is she this focused at this age? Like how is she, on every single ball, able to tune in?’”
Her father, Jorge Fernandez, has guided her career as head coach – a former pro soccer player who moved from Ecuador to Canada with family as a boy. He has hired tennis coaches to develop her along the way, too, including Francisco Sanchez and Romain Deridder. She has had some financial help from Tennis Canada and used the National Training Centre in Montreal as a regular base before moving her training to Boynton, Beach, Fla.
She really grabbed attention when she won the 2019 Junior French Open.
“She was only 16 then and she won the 18-and-under [category],” said Eugène Lapierre. Tennis Canada’s VP of professional tennis, who was courtside to see that final in Paris. “She was able to win big matches, able to read the game so well, and we thought she would progress, but it was hard to say back then. She was petite, and we knew there were so many bigger players on the WTA Tour.”
The 5-foot-6 teen has not shrunk from any opponents in New York – evident in her three-set semi-final thriller over 5-foot-11 power-serving Sabalenka. Fernandez said her dad warned her that Sabalenka would crush some winners, she told the ESPN panel, but that the key would be not to dwell on them, and to orchestrate gems of her own.
After her win, as she went into the back wings, Stacey Allaster, the Canadian-born USTA chief of professional tennis, introduced Fernandez to Billie Jean King and the Original Nine women who fought for women’s professional tennis 50 years ago. The generations were connecting. New personalities are forever emerging.
Bruneau says the success of past Canadian players have helped generate this wave for others.
“These Canadian players are helping each other with their successes, it’s very clear,” Bruneau said.
He points to Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov making the semis in Miami right after Andreescu won the title at Indian Wells. He says Andreescu was driven by the successes of Genie Bouchard. The inspiration that stems from intriguing Canadian results has been contagious.
“They all have the tools, but maybe it helps to see something like that. For Leyla to see Bianca win the tournament helped – she sees that it’s possible, that it isn’t inaccessible,” Bruneau said. “Now Leylah will open the door for the next one. I feel we’re all very blessed as tennis fans in the country to be to have all these players around.”