It was Walter Hagen who said, ‘no one remembers who came in second’, and that’s an idiom with some grain of truth in sport, business, and life in general.
And yet, for those who do find themselves in the runner’s-up position, defeat can turn out to be the learning experience that drives them on to greater things.
Right now, it’s hard to say definitively which path Leylah Fernandez will take. But the 19-year-old captured the heart of the sporting world in her run to the 2021 US Open final, where she was bested by another teenager, Emma Raducanu.
It means that Raducanu is now a global star, with all the weight of pressure and expectation that brings, while Fernandez can somewhat go under the radar as she returns to what she does best – winning tennis matches.
Followers of tennis news will know that the Montreal native is already back to winning ways. At the Indian Wells Open, she defeated Alize Cornet and ninth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on her way to the fourth round, where she lost in three sets to the ever-dangerous Shelby Rogers.
In many ways, Indian Wells has proven to be an affirmative event for Fernandez, and proof that her ascension through the ranks of women’s tennis – she’s up to 28 in the world – is fully justified.
Move on up
In many ways, it’s always interesting to see how players that have been successful on the youth circuit go on to fare as full WTA professionals.
For Fernandez, her breakthrough moment came in 2019 when she reached the finals of the Junior Australian Open (losing to Clara Tauson) and the Junior French Open, where she reigned victorious over Emma Navarro.
It was proof that the Montreal born ace could handle the pressure of a major match, and that is the kind of mental fortitude that the top pros need – alongside no shortage of skill, of course.
Making the leap from junior to senior tennis can be difficult, and there are plenty of youth Grand Slam winners that find the gap all too cavernous. But Fernandez has taken to life as a full-time professional with aplomb, securing her first WTA Tour title back in March at the Monterrey Open.
The 19-year-old played some flawless tennis in Mexico, defeating CoCo Vandeweghe, Kristina Kucova and Viktoria Kuzmova in the opening three rounds, before despatching seventh seed Sara Sorribes Tormo in the semi-finals.
In the final she would meet Viktorija Golubic, who herself had knocked out two seeds on her run to the showpiece occasion. But it was clear from the outset that Fernandez was on another level, taking the first set 6-1 before clinching the title 6-4 in the second. Former winners of the Monterrey Open include Garbine Muguruza, Marion Bartoli and Ana Ivanovic, all of whom went on to win Grand Slam events.
Fast forward six months and Fernandez found herself in the same skates as the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals – a huge underdog. But no matter, because before long she was beating proven major winners in Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber, before taking out two of the top five seeds in Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka on her way to the final.
That didn’t go as she had planned, but Fernandez is beating big-time players regularly now despite being in her teens…. if she stays fit, heathy, and injury-free, there really is nothing to stop her going all the way to the top of women’s tennis.
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