Defending champion Fernandez feels the love in Hong Kong

Leylah Fernandez is one of those players who always greets fans with a smile, always takes that extra moment to chat or pose for a selfie. It’s a factor of being a professional athlete that has been engrained into her from the very start.

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“My dad has always said the job of an athlete is to entertain. For me, we wouldn’t have this job if it wasn’t for the fans,” the Canadian said this week. “Seeing how passionate they are for the sport, for tennis, for women’s sport especially, it truly motivates me to be better.

“I try to give back as much as possible, even if it’s just a few minutes of my time, it warms my heart because I get to create that connection with them and learn more about their culture. I get to just meet people from around the world and that feels incredible.”

The 22-year-old is back at Victoria Park 12 months on from lifting the trophy here in 2023, and on Thursday took her title defense into the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Kimberly Birrell. The local support played a major role in Fernandez returning to Causeway Bay.

“As the defending champion you want to achieve good results, but also, I felt so much love from the fans, as if I’ve been coming here every year,” stated the world No.32.

“It just feels great to be back, I’m super happy to experience this again as my last tournament for the year. I want to enjoy the moment, enjoy the atmosphere as much as possible.”

The Canadian has grown up seeking connections with people, wanting to help where possible. Back in 2022, the Leylah Annie And Family Foundation was founded.

“We’ve had that idea for a long time. The seed was planted when my dad and I and my younger sister were living in Laval (Canada) and my mum moved to California (USA) to help support us,” recalled Fernandez.

“We were working and struggling in the tennis world. We had a good life, but also it was hard to maintain. It’s very expensive, so we did ask for a few people’s help here and there. Unfortunately, they declined us, they didn’t think my sister and I could achieve our goals. That hurt me, my dad too – you never want to tell your kid people don’t believe in you.

“We’ve always talked about if we had the opportunity and the means to help people. So our tradition was to do some charity work around Christmas time. The first year we went to a kid’s hospital, we only had $100 to buy gifts for the kids. That was the best Christmas I ever had. From then we just kept giving back.”

The blistering breakout to the US Open 2021 final not only launched Fernandez into the global sporting limelight, it also enabled the family to truly start their foundation.

“That’s when we set out the plan to try and help as many families or single parents with kids with passions and dreams, but without the means. I do hope in the future I can be more hands on with the foundation, it’s currently being managed by my mum and that’s good as I trust her. In the future we’ll have some pretty good projects going on.”

Speaking of that major run in New York three years ago, Fernandez admits frustrations at the undulating nature of her career ever since. It’s very easy to forget Fernandez is only 22-years-old and has already achieved significant milestones such as a Grand Slam final, WTA silverware and Billie Jean King Cup glory.

“The progression as a player hasn’t been straightforward, with a lot of ups and downs. There have been some changes in my game that I didn’t want, but I just had to keep learning and growing,” continued the Canadian.

“Because of those experiences I’ve been able to learn more about myself as a person and who I want to become on court.

“Yes, I’m a very ambitious person, we are a very ambitious team with high goals. We can’t always be satisfied with results we’ve done in the past and must make sure we look ahead.”

One avenue of inspiration for Fernandez is diving into other sports to observe the box office names in action.

“I’ve studied a lot of sport with my dad. I loved playing football growing up and it’s always been my favourite sport to watch. My team is Manchester City,” said 5’6″ tall Fernandez.

“We’ve studied boxing, trying to see athletes who are considered small, within their categories, like (Floyd) Mayweather, (Manny) Pacquiao, it’s interesting how they would take down the bigger guys. It’s inspiring.

“Recently we’ve got into basketball. I’ve always loved learning about Kobe (Bryant’s) story, which is very inspiring. There’s Shaq (O’Neil), with his personality. How he grew up, I can see some similarities with mine. I just love how he was able to turn it on when he went onto court.”

Fernandez will next face No.9 seed Bernarda Pera as she bids to reach her second semifinal of 2024.