Rafael Nadal and Leylah Fernandez are both left-handed tennis players. They also play a two-handed backhand but those are not the only similarities between the players, at least not according to the former tennis pro Mats Wilander. During her US Open run, Eurosport tennis analyst said:
"For Leylah [Fernandez], this is an early sign that if she stays healthy physically she is going most definitely going to get to a bunch of semi-finals, a bunch of quarter-finals, and finals – and most probably win some – because she has it. Mentally Leylah is like a rock, incredible. She has a temperament similar to Rafa Nadal that leaves you asking how do you do that?”
Fernandez has truly shown some mental toughness during her epic run to the US Open final. She bested several major-winning players in 3 sets even coming back against a few. She never wavered in those key moments and the spotlight did not seem too bright for her.
Wilander also compared Raducanu and Fernandez noting that there isn't much difference between them saying that he believes both will win several grand slams in the future:
"Raducanu and Fernandez play very similarly in a way, if Fernandez was right-handed you wouldn’t see much difference in their styles, they are pretty close in how they play. I would say the same about Emma as I would say about Leylah, if she stays fit she is going to win multiple Grand Slam titles. I cannot imagine a player like that not winning three or four majors, I really can’t”.