"Hopefully I can share the court with her before she retires" - Fernandez would like to play against Serena Williams
WTA
Leylah Fernandez says “tennis has missed” Serena Williams and the Canadian hopes to share a court with the sporting great before she retires.
After picking up a serious injury during the first round at Wimbledon last year, Williams missed the remainder of the 2021 season as well as the beginning of the 2022 campaign.
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With the 23-time Grand Slam winner keeping mum about a potential return date, it led to speculation that we may have seen the last of the tennis icon in competitive action. However, the 40-year-old surprised the tennis community on the eve of Wimbledon when she announced that she had accepted a wildcard to compete at the grass-court Grand Slam.
Williams, though, lost in the opening round at the All England Club, but although she remained coy about her future, she insisted that playing at SW19 “definitely makes me want to hit the practice courts”.
Fernandez, of course, missed Wimbledon due to injury, but she was happy to see the American back in action.
“I was very excited. Tennis has missed her. She’s a big legend,” the Canadian told TSN. “Just seeing her back on court, competing and giving it her all and not giving up is a true inspiration. I know that kids and professional players are looking up to her.”
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The 19-year-old Fernandez is yet to play against Williams in a competitive match and she hopes it happens before the tennis legend hangs up her racket.
“Hopefully I can share the court with her before she retires," added the US Open finalist. "Hopefully that’s not too soon. Hopefully I can play a match against her.
“I just want to be able to tell everyone that I was able to play a match against Serena Williams. She’s just legend."
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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