"It was just hard to walk normally" - Fernandez gives details on foot fracture obtained during French Open

Leylah Fernandez admitted she wasn't really paying too much attention to her foot injury at first and she was absolutely heartbroken after getting the results from her scans.

At the French Open, Fernandez reached the quarterfinal before losing to Martina Trevisan in three sets. Even though the US Open finalist was clearly hampered by a foot injury versus Trevisan, she refused to retire. After the match, the scans revealed a Grade 3 stress fracture.

“I felt a pinch in my third round match and I didn’t think anything of it,” Fernandez told TSN. “I thought it would be a normal little nick on my foot, but then as the week progressed it was getting worse and worse. In my last match, and even the day before, it wasn’t that great. We were hoping it would be good for the quarterfinals, but it did not go well.

"It was a sharp pain. At first it was a pinch and then afterwards it was a sharp pain. It was hard to put my foot down and then it was just hard to walk normally."

Upon reviewing the results from the scan, Fernandez knew she would not be able to compete at this year's Wimbledon.

“It was hard. The first few days, I was very heartbroken. I was hoping it would just be a sprain or that a nerve got [pinched] or a muscle in my foot had something wrong and it would just be a few weeks, but a stress fracture set us back even more,” admitted the Canadian.

“I was very heartbroken because I knew I was close to a semi-final of a Grand Slam and potentially playing against Coco Gauff. That would’ve been a great match."

Fernandez, 19, is expected to make a return at the Citi Open in Washington next month.