Fernandez leads confident team in hunt for back-to-back titles
16/11/2024 12:33
The 22-year-old is bringing her experience and leadership skills to Team Canada
By Molly McElwee
When Leylah Fernandez sits in her living room at home, she has a trophy cabinet her parents surprised her with, charting every achievement of her career so far. Framed on the wall just beside it in pride of place is her Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge winners’ jacket.
The Tory Burch memento serves as a special reminder of last year’s historic first title for Canada and, arriving in Malaga this week as the reigning champions, Fernandez says she feels different than in previous years.
“I think it does feel different coming into Malaga as the defending champions,” she says. “Now there’s more teams who are going to come out there and give their all, especially against us. They want to prove a point. But we’re just going to enjoy our time, enjoy the atmosphere and have fun on court. Hopefully it goes well for us.”
Fernandez is still only 22 years old, but she has long been the leading force in singles for Team Canada. She made her debut in 2019 and is already ranked joint-third in singles wins (12) at the Billie Jean King Cup for Canada, and has won 16 of her last 17 matches in the competition.
As a consistent threat at the top of the circuit and as a former Grand Slam finalist, Fernandez has a track record of handling pressure moments well. Last season, she won all eight matches she contested in the Billie Jean King Cup as she spurred the Canada team on to glory. It is a leading role she does not take lightly.
Across sport, she ranks Billie Jean King and former US women’s national soccer team goalkeeper Hope Solo as leaders that she looks up to, and she has taken many lessons from her own teammates too.
“For the past couple of years I have achieved quite a lot, now that you mention it - I had to think back. Being part of a team, I’ve learned a lot from my peers. The one thing I did learn is communication and also just listening - listen to what your teammates say and feel, communicate what I feel too. That’s always been a key thing.
“At the end of the day it’s confidence, all of us have so much confidence and we try and show that on court.”
Canada kick off their Billie Jean King Cup title defence against Great Britain on Sunday night, a team that includes Emma Raducanu, the woman who beat Fernandez to the US Open title in 2021.
The Canadian team in Malaga includes four of last year’s five players, including 19-year-old Marina Stakusic. She made her debut at last year’s Finals and left an impression by winning three of the four singles matches she contested.
Though Fernandez admits that big expectations can come with the success of last year, she is trying to see it differently. “I think in a way we do feel it’s freeing because we finally got our first title,” she says.
“But at the same time there’s a little bit of pressure because we want to do it again. There’s a little bit of both but at the end of the day we want to just enjoy our time on court, bring some good energy, atmosphere, and hopefully the ties go our way.”
