Leylah Fernandez saw her dream come true as she saw the former world number 1 in her own eyes up close. The Canadian is at the National Bank Open in Toronto, where she will return to the WTA Tour after being on the sidelines since Roland Garros.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference in Toronto, Fernandez spoke about seeing Venus Williams on her first outing at her home event and was amazed by her.
“At the time I was just in awe of seeing all these professionals, I remember one moment I saw Venus pass in front of me. I remember thinking, ‘OMG, Venus Williams just passed me’ , Fernandez said.
The southpaw suffered a Grade 3 stress fracture in his right foot during his quarter-final defeat at Roland Garros. Despite his injury, Fernandez continued playing and did not retire, losing to Italy’s Martina Trevisan 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3.
Despite several rumors about her return, the Monterrey Open winner will be seen in action at the Canadian Open.
“The foot is awesome, it’s like a whole new foot” – Leylah Fernandez on her foot
Leylah Fernandez spoke about her experience of having an injured foot and how the injury affected her daily routine. With injury keeping her on the sidelines, Fernandez added that despite being in a “bad time” due to injury, she was happy to spend her free time with her family.
“The foot is great. It’s like a whole new foot. We just tried to come to terms with the situation and I think we did a great job understanding that it’s a bad time,” she said.
“But at least we’re having this bad time as a family and seeing it as a kind of silver lining,” Fernandez added.
“The doctor told me yesterday that I had the green light to play. My foot is 100% healed. –@leylahfernandez Leylah opens it #NBO22 campaign against a qualifier and could meet top seed Iga Świątek in the third round https://t.co/ECzHbibFKM
Elaborating on what she does in her spare time, Fernandez said she enjoys free time watching TV and reading lots of books, which she was adamantly against in the past.
“In the past, I was hard-headed and didn’t want to read books,” she said. “The last few weeks I’ve read more and enjoyed it – it was really surprising.”
The Canadian also opened up about her love for real crime shows and how she tries to solve the case before the show ends and drew parallels to her problem-solving skills on the job.
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“I always try to solve the case before the end of the show,” Fernandez said. “Most of the time, I’m wrong. Using a thought process, trying to figure things out, the same way I would use on the tennis court, solving problems.
Leylah Fernandez will kick off her Canadian Open on August 8 against a qualifier. The 13th seed could also potentially face Treviso in the second round for a rematch of their Roland Garros quarter-final clash.
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