‘Tried to Replicate It’- Leylah Fernandez Details How Fathers of Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Andre Agassi, and Others Have Served as a Huge Motivation for Her Own Father

At the recent press conference in the US Open, last year’s finalist Leylah Fernandez opened up about her father Jorge Fernandez replicating the success story of Venus and Serena Williams’ father. She also talked about her father doing research on Maria Sharapova, Andre Agassi, and their fathers.

It is worth noting that among the few players, Fernandez’s father coaches her, which is rare to see on the tour at the moment. Besides Fernandez, Coco Gauff’s father also coaches her. 

Leylah Fernandez opens up about learning from the fathers of Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and others

Speaking about her father leaping from the fathers of Serena and others, Fernandez said, “Yeah, yeah. I would say so. My dad did his homework with all the fathers who have helped the WTA and ATP players. He was kind of looking into Maria Sharapova’s dad, also Andre Agassi’s dad, Pete Sampras’ story, too.“

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“We’ve kind of looked into it. We kind of learned what they did. We tried to replicate it, but in our own way. When we see that their families are successful and that they’ve done great things, it kind of motivated us to do the same, knowing that it’s not going to be easy because we had to go through difficulties. That’s not going to change,” she further said at the press conference. 

Notably, the story of Venus and Serena Williams‘ father, Richard Williams, was legendary. Recently, Venus and Serena produced the Oscar-nominated movie ‘King Richard’, which told the story of Richard Williams.

As for Sharapova’s father, he also had to leave Russia with his daughter at an early age to provide great opportunities for the future Wimbledon champion. Safe to say, Sharapova had a pretty successful career, winning 5 Grand Slam titles.

Can Fernandez replicate last year’s success at this year’s US Open?

Last year, the Canadian tennis star rose to the limelight as she reached the finals of the US Open. On her way to the final, she beat the likes of Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina, Angelique Kerber and Aryna Sabalenka. Unfortunately, in the final, she lost to Emma Raducanu, a relatively unknown player at that time.

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Since then, she has come a long way, as she reached her second Grand Slam quarter-final at the French Open earlier this year. Currently, the 19-year-old player is ranked no.14 in the WTA rankings and reached her career-high ranking, 13, earlier this year.

In the US Open 2022, she will start her campaign against Oceane Dodin. It will be tough to replicate last year’s success, as she has been handed a tough draw. Moreover, Serena Williams is in the same half, which will be a thrilling match-up for the young Canadian, if it were to materialize.