Leylah Fernandez confirms romance with Canadian Paralympic athlete in Rome reveal

Canadian tennis player Leylah Fernandez confirmed her relationship with Canadian para ice hockey player and Paralympic silver medallist Vincent Boily after sharing a series of photos from her trip to Rome on social media.

The posts showed the couple visiting landmarks including the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Ponte Sant’Angelo. Fernandez also included images from a dinner in the Italian capital, captioned “Some Rome archives,” marking the first clear public confirmation of the relationship.

Boily, 25, is a member of Canada’s para ice hockey team and won silver at the 2026 Milano Cortina Paralympic Games. He transitioned into para sport following a 2017 snowmobile accident that resulted in partial paralysis, later establishing himself at international level.

The relationship had been the subject of speculation for several months after Boily appeared in the background of a Charleston training video earlier in the season. Fernandez had previously kept her private life largely out of the public domain, only hinting in 2025 that her relationship status was “positive” without naming a partner.

The Rome post quickly circulated across tennis and Olympic sporting circles, particularly after Boily responded in the comments with “Bellissima.” The exchange was widely interpreted as mutual confirmation, effectively ending speculation that had persisted since the US Open hard-court swing.

Boily has become one of Canada’s leading para ice hockey players, part of the national squad that secured silver at the 2026 Paralympic Games. His sporting career was reshaped after his 2017 accident, moving from traditional hockey ambitions into elite para sport competition.

On court, Fernandez’s season has been inconsistent. She exited the Italian Open in the Round of 64 after losing to Rebeka Masarova before moving to France to continue her clay-court schedule at the WTA 125 Trophée Clarins in Paris, where she was eliminated in the first round by Anna Blinkova in straight sets.

Fernandez had a strong stretch in Stuttgart and the Madrid Open, reaching the quarterfinals in both tournaments, but recent weeks have seen a drop in level during the clay swing. The 2021 US Open finalist is expected to compete at the Strasbourg Open starting Monday, where she is the sixth seed and will play her final tournament before Roland Garros.

Fernandez, 23, is currently world No. 24 in the WTA rankings and the second-ranked Canadian, behind Victoria Mboko (No. 9). She is aiming to bounce back ahead of the French Open, where her best result remains the quarterfinals in 2022, when she was eliminated by Italian player Martina Trevisan after an injury-affected match.