Posted at 5:00 a.m.
(New York) Leylah Fernandez is no longer quite the ingenue who, during a thrilling end of summer, captured the hearts of New Yorkers, from CBS morning show host Gayle King to Eric Adams, current mayor of New York, passing through a host of lesser-known citizens.
But it is with the eyes of a child that the 19-year-old Quebecer says she reconnected with the site of the United States Tennis Open, where she lost in the final last year to Emma Raducanu, a young sensation. from qualifying, after having liquidated the Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Elina Svitolina, among other great women’s rackets.
“Wow! It’s so big! she thought as she showed up at the Billie-Jean-King National Tennis Center, overlooked by the gigantic mass of Arthur Ashe Stadium, for a morning practice session.
I felt like a little kid again in her own playground, trying to find her way, exploring the courts.
Leylah Fernandez
“I was having so much fun,” she later said with a smile at a crowded press conference.
Like the other Quebec tennis star, Félix Auger-Aliassime, who will make his media debut on Sunday, Leylah Fernandez, 14e seeded, will kick off the final annual Grand Slam of tennis on Monday. She will face in the evening on the court of the Louis-Armstrong stadium the Frenchwoman Océane Dodin, 99e player in the world.
Auger-Aliassime will face a player from the qualifications on the Grandstand court. Sixth seed, he could reconnect with the Russian Daniil Medvedev, first player in the world and defending champion in New York, in the quarter-finals.
“This is where I found my smile again”
Like Raducanu, Fernandez was unable to extend the fairy tale she co-starred in New York last September this year. A stress fracture in his right foot suffered at Roland-Garros notably caused him to miss two months of competition – and Wimbledon.
“I thought everything was going to be perfect,” said the Lavalloise, returning to what has happened to her since the New York final. “At the same time, I knew that there would be some obstacles on the road and that I was going to have to find solutions, to get through these difficult times. »
PHOTO SETH WENIG, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Leylah Fernandez made the US Open final last year.
I think it’s been a great learning experience, not only learning how to play tennis, which I do constantly, but also getting to know myself, what I like to do, what made me helped, in those moments, to try to improve myself as a person and to enjoy my time on the circuit.
Leylah Fernandez
A year later, Leylah Fernandez isn’t quite the same, but it’s hard to escape the feeling that she’s tailor-made for New York, for its tennis tournament and its “electric” crowd. to use one of his words.
“It’s here that I found a smile on the court,” she said in French during her press conference.
On the way to Serena
And the world of tennis has already begun to dream, even before the first exchange between Leylah Fernandez and Océane Dodin, of a symbolic confrontation which would feature the Quebecer at the dawn of her 20th birthday and an American who has reached the milestone 40 years old.
Because, if the gods of sport were as generous as last year in New York, they would arrange for Leylah Fernandez to find Serena Williams in the round of 16, who will bid farewell to the Big Apple as a tennis player.
“What would that look like? “asked a journalist to the Quebecer.
“Wow! I had not seen the print. I didn’t know she was in my part of the painting,” she replied.
PHOTO SETH WENIG, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Serena Williams in training earlier this week
A clarification, before going further on this subject. The US Open main draw was announced on Thursday. All tennis enthusiasts have scrutinized it to find out about the possible clashes. But, to hear it, Leylah Fernandez leaves these details to her coach, who would have been content to reveal the identity of her first rival. Athletes are truly moving into another dimension, elevating the “one game at a time” cliché to a mantra.
Or they sometimes take us by boat.
One thing is certain: the idea of having a chance to participate in a historic match appeals to Fernandez. Especially since she has never played against the one she calls “icon” and “legend”.
I’m just so excited to know that I could potentially meet Serena here in New York. It could be a dream come true for me. You always dream of playing against the legends, the greatest players of all time whom you have admired for so long.
Leylah Fernandez
Leylah Fernandez also harbors the dream of achieving the greatest feats on the biggest stages in the world, which she says she achieved last year. This is the message she says she remembers from the final in which she participated against Raducanu.
“The message is that nothing is impossible and dreams come true,” she said. I think doing it here in New York was even better because New York is where all dreams come true, where you feel like big things are happening. »
Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, might add, as American politicians do at the end of their television commercials: “And I approve of that message. »