The young Canadian broke into Top 100 of the WTA Rankings in 2020 and aims to go even higher in 2021.
Leylah Fernandez, who is also 2019 Junior Roland Garros champion, played her first WTA final in Acapulco where she lost to Heather Watson. She showed brilliant performances throughout the whole year what secured her the seat in the Top 100 of the WTA Rankings. In 2021, she aims to finish in Top 10, as she said:
"The hope is to get to the second week in Australia, and then to win one or two titles this season," she said. "Ultimately my goal is to finish in the top 10 this year. I know I have a long way to get there, but that's the goal and I think I can do it."
"When my dad saw the tennis rackets, and saw these beautiful pink ones with flowers, he got this vision in his head," Fernandez said. "He asked for two, because I think he imagined two little girls playing at the park, and then afterward getting ice cream with the family and just for fun. Such a beautiful image, right?"
"Of course that idea was very short-lived because the first time I hit the ball, I fell in love with it. Some coaches pretty quickly saw I was talented and noticed I had a good hand-eye coordination. And by the age of 10 or 11 years old, I decided I wanted to be a tennis pro. I didn't want to only do it for recreation -- I wanted to play tennis all the way and make it to the WTA."