Leylah Fernandez will not be coated with icing.
Less than 24 hours after winning DC Open, Fernandez gave a blunt assessment of her season before the title.
“The rest of the year is not good,” she said. “It’s so bad to be honest.”
Before Washington, Fernandez maintained a 16-17 record, winning two games in this year’s tournament.
So how did she suddenly win five straight games, including a tough battle with the best two of the tennis matches to take the biggest title of her career?
The 22-year-old from Laval, Quebec, helped her gain confidence by highlighting the positive energy around her team and having the opportunity to train with other Canadian players in Washington.
Earlier this year, her mother and sister suffered emotional damage to her surprise health fears, and she also rediscovered her love for the game.
“It’s hard to manage and disconnect my emotions,” Fernandez said in a press conference on Monday. “But after Roland-Garros and preparing for Wimbledon, we talked about a lot of training training, just finding the fun of tennis, which helped me a lot.
“I just enjoy myself more and I’m able to do a great job in front of a large crowd. I think everything was just on the side of the week and hopefully it continues to be for Montreal.”
Fernandez, who ranked 12th in the world on Monday, was at No. 24 worldwide, started her home state bank on Tuesday, which was also her opening rival in Washington.
After the last 24 hours of whirlwind, it was a quick turnaround.
Fernandez won the Washington Class 500 title by defeating Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the championship game on Sunday – her fourth WTA title – defeating Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2
After a “three to four hours” sleep, she attended the Foundation event at the IGA Stadium around 8 a.m. Monday. Next timetable? rest.
“As much downtime as possible,” she said, “the most important thing is to stay positive, have a clear mind, and get into the tennis court with great confidence and great motivation.”
“Get good at playing, have fun, and do a good job of performing for the crowd.”
The 2021 U.S. Open finalists have previously won three WTA 250 titles: the 2021 and 2022 Monterrey Open, and the 2023 Hong Kong Open.
Fernandez certainly held a show in DC, eliminating Kazakhstan’s third seed Elena Rybakina in a three-hour, 12-minute semifinal. She also eliminated the top seed of America, Jessica Pegula, in the second round.
“It’s really tough. I’m third in the third game against Leila, but obviously she’s obviously playing some really good tennis,” said Pegula, the world’s fourth. “She’s really tricky. I played her a few times last year and I felt like both ways could go in every game. I tried not to be too upset about that game.”
In the context of a healthy diet that is usually with professional athletes, Fernandez discovered the habit of winning from the American fast food chain’s crumbling burgers, hot dogs and cheese fries after each victory.
She needs to find new recipes for success in this year’s NBO in Montreal. Shake Shack currently has only three locations in Canada – all in Toronto.
“We have to find another routine,” she said. “There is definitely a range of restaurants we want to go to in the US that they don’t have in the US this week, only here in Canada, so that’s definitely our to-do list.”
