Canada’s Leylah Fernandez has one clear goal for the rest of the year: raising her singles ranking.
The 20-year-old from Laval, Que., is on a tear in doubles this year, coming off an appearance in the French Open final with American partner Taylor Townsend. But her singles play hasn’t met expectations.
Fernandez heads into Wimbledon ranked 95th in the world — far off the No. 51 she entered the French Open with in May, and even further from the career-high No. 13 she held last August.
The left-handed player who stole the hearts of Canadians — and New Yorkers — with her surprise run to the U.S. Open final in 2021 knows her 16-14 singles record needs to improve.
"I just gotta start winning matches,” Fernandez said bluntly to The Canadian Press. “It hasn't been the best year. Of course I want better results, I want to win, I want to have my ranking up.”
Fernandez opens singles play at the grass-court Grand Slam on Monday against No. 86 Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine. With a victory, she’ll likely be up against No. 5 Caroline Garcia in the ensuing round.
Despite her slide in the rankings, Fernandez believes she’s moving in the right direction — and she's giving herself time to grow as a player who’s still so young in her career.
“It's still a development phase for me, I'm still figuring things out, and I think losing matches is a hard part of the game,” said Fernandez.
"I don't think it's going too well, the results speak for themselves,” she added. “But every single day in training I've been improving, I've been getting better and that's the most important thing for me.”
Fernandez credits a large part of her doubles success to her chemistry with Townsend, something that extends both on and off the court.
It also came together quickly. The two North Americans hadn’t spoken before joining forces ahead of Indian Wells and the Miami Open, where they also made the final in April.
Townsend’s coach, John Williams, had the idea to recruit Fernandez, thinking their games would complement each other. So far, he’s been right.
“We're able to communicate freely,” said Fernandez. “When I make a mistake or she makes a mistake, we're not afraid to tell each other the truth and say 'No, it's fine, let's get back to work, let's move on' or 'That was a bad mistake, but again, let's move on, let's get to the next point.'"
The duo’s success has them seeded sixth entering Wimbledon, where a first-round matchup against Americans Alycia Parks and Peyton Stearns awaits.
Fernandez says playing doubles gives her an opportunity to correct some mistakes, and she’s hoping some of the confidence she’s building with Townsend can soon lead to a resurgence in singles.
"I want to do well in singles like everybody but sometimes that doesn't work out,” she said. “Doubles has given me an opportunity to work on my game while in competition and not just in the practice court. Hopefully soon I can translate that into singles."
After an arduous clay season, Fernandez took a break both to rest and find her footing on grass ahead of Wimbledon.
Fernandez, who has little experience playing in grass-court tournaments, needed time to adjust to the speed of the game and lack of sliding compared to clay, and work on details like hitting balls with less spin.
Her strategy paid off at the Bad Homburg Open last week, where she won her first match on grass this year in 54 minutes. But Fernandez fell out in the second round with a straight-sets loss to Russia's Anna Blinkova.
After suffering a first-round loss in her lone Wimbledon appearance in 2021, Fernandez is still searching for her first win at the Grand Slam.
CANADIANS AT WIMBLEDON
Elsewhere at Wimbledon, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino and Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., join Fernandez in women’s singles.
Zhao is making her first-ever appearance in a Grand Slam main draw after three wins in qualifying and will face Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch on Tuesday.
Andreescu, ranked 50th, opens the tournament Tuesday against Hungary’s Anna Bondar and the 83rd-ranked Marino plays No. 29 Irina Carmelia-Begu of Romania.
Neither player has made it past the second round at the All England Club.
On the men’s side, former world No. 3 Milos Raonic makes his return to Wimbledon for the first time since 2019.
The 32-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., who made the final in 2016, appeared to have possibly played his last match due to numerous injuries in 2021, but returned to play last month.
The injuries are not behind him, however. Raonic withdrew from a warm-up tournament two weeks ago due to a shoulder injury. He’s scheduled to play Austrian qualifier Dennis Novak on Tuesday.
Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime — Canada’s top-ranked singles player at No. 12 — takes on American Michael Mmoh and Richmond Hill, Ont., product Denis Shapovalov, ranked 29th, plays Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot on Monday.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski, a two-time Grand Slam champion, teams up with new partner Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in women’s doubles.
Rob Shaw, a Parapan American Games champion, plays in the quads’ division.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2023.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press