• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Tennis-Fernandez uses doubters as motivation to reach US Open final

September 10, 2021 by David Barret Leave a Comment

September 10, 2021

By Steve Keating

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Leylah Fernandez may not feel the weight of expectation as she heads into the U.S. Open final but the Canadian teenager will have a chip on her shoulder put there by those who doubted her.

Dropped from Tennis Quebec’s development program when she was seven-years-old and told by teachers to forget becoming a professional and focus on school, Fernandez will have the last laugh on Saturday when faces fellow teen Emma Raducanu for a first Grand Slam title and a winner’s purse of $2.5 million.

“A lot of people doubted me, my family and my dreams,” said Fernandez after knocking out second seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(3) 4-6 6-4.

“They kept saying ‘No’, that I’m not going to be a professional tennis player, that I should stop and just pursue going to school.

“I remember one teacher, which was actually very funny — at the time it wasn’t, but now I’m laughing.

“She told me to stop playing tennis, you will never make it, and just focus on school.”

Fernandez says she carries that rejection with her into every match and uses it as motivation, along with the other challenges her family faced along the road to helping her realise her dream.

Her father Jorge, an Ecuador-born soccer player who knew little about tennis, stepped in and became her coach, instilling in her an unshakable self-belief.

Ranked number 73 in the world at the start of the U.S. Open, most would have seen her bid to reach a Grand Slam final as ‘Mission Impossible’, but not Fernandez.

“My dad would tell me all the time, there’s no limit to my potential to what I can do,” said Fernandez, who celebrated her 19th birthday on Monday. “Every day we just got to keep working hard, we got to keep going for it.

“Nothing is impossible. There’s no limit to what I can do.”

The difficult times and determination to overcome are reflected in the fearless Canadian’s relentless attacking play.

Fernandez has also drawn strength and resolve from her mother and sister, who have been cheering her on from courtside seats while her father offered advice and inspiration from home.

“My mom had to go to California for a few years to support my family and I in the tennis world,” said Fernandez.

“That few years were definitely hard for me because I needed a mom, I needed someone to be there for me through the age of 10-to-13.

“I’d barely see her at that time.

“Every time I saw her, it was like seeing a stranger but at the same time someone so familiar.

“I was just very lucky to have my mom here at this tournament cheering for me and having fun with me all this time.

“But we’ve gone through so many things together as a family.”

(Reporting by Steve Keating in New York. Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source Link Tennis-Fernandez uses doubters as motivation to reach US Open final

David Barret
David Barret

Related posts:

  1. Taliban prepare to reveal new Afghan government amid economic turmoil
  2. Vodafone’s market-leading broadband deals come to an end tomorrow
  3. YouTravel.Me packs up $1M to match travelers with curated small group adventures
  4. Welcome to TechRadar’s PC Gaming Week 2021

Filed Under: News

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Project Hail Mary Trailer First Look: What Would Happen If The Sun Got Darker?
  • Newly Discovered Cell Structure Might Hold Key To Understanding Devastating Genetic Disorders
  • What Is Kakeya’s Needle Problem, And Why Do We Want To Solve It?
  • “I Wasn’t Prepared For The Sheer Number Of Them”: Cave Of Mummified Never-Before-Seen Eyeless Invertebrates Amazes Scientists
  • Asteroid Day At 10: How The World Is More Prepared Than Ever To Face Celestial Threats
  • What Happened When A New Zealand Man Fell Butt-First Onto A Powerful Air Hose
  • Ancient DNA Confirms Women’s Unexpected Status In One Of The Oldest Known Neolithic Settlements
  • Earth’s Weather Satellites Catch Cloud Changes… On Venus
  • Scientists Find Common Factors In People Who Have “Out-Of-Body” Experiences
  • Shocking Photos Reveal Extent Of Overfishing’s Impact On “Shrinking” Cod
  • Direct Fusion Drive Could Take Us To Sedna During Its Closest Approach In 11,000 Years
  • Earth’s Energy Imbalance Is More Than Double What It Should Be – And We Don’t Know Why
  • We May Have Misjudged A Fundamental Fact About The Cambrian Explosion
  • The Shoebill Is A Bird So Bizarre That Some People Don’t Even Believe It’s Real
  • Colossal’s “Dire Wolves” Are Now 6 Months Old – And They’ve Doubled In Size
  • How To Fake A Fossil: Find Out More In Issue 36 Of CURIOUS – Out Now
  • Is It True Earth Used To Take 420 Days To Orbit The Sun?
  • One Of The Ocean’s “Most Valuable Habitats” Grows The Only Flowers Known To Bloom In Seawater
  • World’s Largest Digital Camera Snaps 2,104 New Asteroids In 10 Hours, Mice With 2 Dads Father Their Own Offspring, And Much More This Week
  • Simplest Explanation For “Anomalous” Signals Coming From Underneath Antarctica Ruled Out
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version