Honing Self-Belief, ’21 US Open Finalist Fernandez Finding Ways to Win

By Richard Osborn

It can be a mixed blessing to have your breakthrough moment at 19, especially when it comes in the white-hot cauldron that is Queens, New York in the late summer, when the eyes of the sporting world are focused on a former ash dump in Flushing Meadows, home to the final Grand Slam on the calendar.

When in 2021 an all-but-unknown, 5-foot-6 Canadian punched her way past three Top-10 opponents, including defending champion Naomi Osaka, to set up the first all-teen US Open final in more than two decades, it was the stuff of wonder. But that surprise showdown in Arthur Ashe Stadium would leave the Montréaler Leylah Fernandez in tears, a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Brit Emma Raducanu.

A loss like that can leave you with some heavy questions: Will I ever get another chance at a major singles title? It surely shook Fernandez, who despite gaining sponsors and fans, wrestled with her confidence in the aftermath. Though she would reach a career-high No. 13 in 2022, grabbing her second tour-level title in Monterrey and reaching the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, she’s still chasing a follow-up to that wondrous, magical fortnight in New York.

“We’ve been working with a lot of self-belief, self-confidence the past few years in tough moments,” said Fernandez, who despite not playing her best tennis this week finds herself in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open. “Not to just be confident when you’re winning, but also be confident when things are going bad. I’m happy that I have the right team around me to remind me that there’s so much more that I can do, and there’s so many things I have done so far, just to keep working, keep chipping away and to never forget about what I can do with the talent, with my tennis.”

That family-centered team includes her full-time coach/father, Jorge, and sometimes even her younger sister Bianca Jolie, who’s currently playing tennis on the collegiate level at UCLA. On a recent afternoon when her father had a scheduling conflict, Bianca Jolie stepped in to oversee a practice session.

“My sister, she’s basically a mini-dad. She’s kind of like a mini-him,” said Fernandez, who will face American Jessica Pegula on Saturday for a shot at the semifinals. “It’s kind of funny to see how she uses the same words, same vocabulary as him, so there wasn’t much difference when she stepped up. I was just happy to have her here, to spend time with her. I haven’t seen her for a while this year, or as much as I would want to, because she’s in school and I’ve been traveling a lot more. It’s good to spend time with her, to have her perspective, too.”

“Sometimes she just tells me the obvious. Even though it’s the same message as my dad, for some reason the way she says it, it clicks. You never know: Sometimes it just has to be from a different person at certain moments. My dad and her, they’re a great team. They’re basically the same person.”

Is that a good thing?

“I think it’s a great thing,” she said. “It’s good that I see some of my dad in her because those qualities are great qualities. That’s what makes him a great coach. That’s also helping her not only as a side coach for me, but also for herself, for her tennis. She’s seeing some of the things that I need to work on. Then that kind of clicks into her head, helping her with her own tennis career for college and, hopefully, if she wants to, for her professional career.”

Fernandez’s summer has been a mixed bag. After reaching a WTA 500 final on the grass in Eastbourne (l. to Daria Kasatkina, 6-3, 6-4), she failed to get past the Round of 16 in her next three events, the home-turf National Bank Open in Toronto included). Despite wrestling with her form in Cincinnati, she showed some grit in defeating Yue Yuan (3-6, 6-4, 6-3), No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina (3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4) and Diana Shnaider (6-1, 6-4), that self-belief proving invaluable.

“I haven’t been playing my best tennis, but the important thing is to keep having that fight, keep having that belief in myself that I can get through these matches,” said Fernandez. “Slowly but surely, my tennis is getting better. We want to have our best tennis near the end of the tournament, not immediately. I’m getting the rhythm of things. That’s the most important thing.”

“It’s always tricky,” she continued. “Tennis is a hard sport for consistency. The players who are in the Top 5, Top 10, they’re the most consistent ones out there. That’s what we’re working on, being consistent throughout the year. That’s what I’ve been lacking. There are some weeks where I’m playing incredible, beautiful tennis, and other weeks where I’m playing horrible tennis, but I’m still trying to find a way to get through the rounds. This week is one of those weeks where, tennis-wise, I’m not there but, mentally, I’m just trying to fight through every match, to keep going with that self-belief that I can be amongst the best players.”

Next week, Fernandez will return to familiar ground, the US Open, the memories rushing back. A few more wins here at the Lindner Family Tennis Center and she’ll carry a whole lot of momentum with her, bolstered by that intangible of intangibles: self-belief.

“I don’t think of it as a missed opportunity or a fond memory,” she reflected. “It’s just another opportunity to play a great tournament, to play in front of an amazing crowd in a beautiful city.”