Quebecer Leylah Fernandez has a clear goal for the rest of the year: to raise her singles ranking.
The 20-year-old Lavallois is enjoying success in doubles this year, after appearing in the final of the French Open tournament with her American partner Taylor Townsend. His singles play, however, fell short of expectations.
Fernandez heads to Wimbledon ranked 95th in the world – a far cry from the 51st echelon she had when she started the French Open tournament in May, and even further from the 13th position in the world she held last August.
Fernandez, who stole the hearts of Canadians on his surprise run to the 2021 U.S. Open tennis final, knows his 16-14 singles record needs to improve.
Fernandez kicks off her grass-court singles Grand Slam tournament by taking on Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl on Monday. With a win, she would likely face France’s Caroline Garcia in the next round.
Despite her drop in the standings, Fernandez thinks she’s headed in the right direction – and she’s giving herself time to grow as a player, she who is still so young in her career.
“It’s still a development phase for me. I’m still figuring it out and I think losing games is a tough part of the game,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez credits much of her doubles success to her chemistry with Townsend, something that extends both on and off the court.
It also quickly set up. The two North Americans had never spoken before joining forces ahead of Indian Wells and the Miami Open, where they also reached the final, in April.
Townsend’s coach John Williams came up with the idea of signing Fernandez, thinking their game would complement each other. So far, he’s right.
“We are able to communicate freely,” Fernandez said. When I make a mistake or she makes one, we’re not afraid to tell each other the truth and say it’s not okay and get back to work and move on. »
The success of the two players has placed them sixth ahead of the Wimbledon tournament, where a first-round match against Americans Alycia Parks and Peyton Stearns awaits them.
Fernandez noted that playing doubles gives him the opportunity to correct some mistakes. She hopes that some of the trust she’s building with Townsend can soon lead to a resurgence in singles.
“I want to do singles like everyone else, but sometimes it doesn’t work out,” she said. The doubles gave me the opportunity to work on my game in competition and not just on the training ground. Hopefully soon I can bring this to singles. »
After a tough season on clay, Fernandez took a break to both rest and find her footing on the grass ahead of Wimbledon.
Fernandez, who has little tournament experience on grass, needed time to adjust to the speed of the game and the lack of slip compared to clay, and work on details like hitting balls with less effect.
Her strategy paid off at the Bad Homburg Open last week, where she won her first grass court match this year in 54 minutes. But Fernandez collapsed in the second round suffering a straight-set loss to Russia’s Anna Blinkova.
After suffering a first-round loss in her only Wimbledon appearance in 2021, Fernandez is still looking for her first victory at this Grand Slam tournament.
