Leylah Annie Fernandez won her opening match in Indian Wells on Sunday after defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova following a tough battle. The Canadian sensation was not really happy with her tennis, but she was elated to find the solution to win a very tricky match.
Playing soccer with her father
Leylah has a very close relationship with her father, Jorge, who played soccer at a professional level. During the press conference that followed her second-round match in Indian Wells, Leylah Fernandez revealed what helps her calm down during her matches. Leylah confessed that at the beginning of the seasons she
“At the beginning of the year, when the toss was going a little bit everywhere, I was inpatient, and the funny thing is when we went back home to practice the serve, my dad just said that we did not hit a serve for like three days.
We just played soccer. We threw the football through tennis balls around, seeing who’s gonna hit the target.
You know that that really helped me to calm myself and just have fun not really overthinking it. Then every time that I’m on court and like the pressure is going up I just think back to that moment, and it always brings a smile to my face.”
Fernandez in Indian Wells, ranking, and results in 2021
Currently ranked no.28 (career-high), Fernandez achieved an overall 25-16 match record in 2021. Leylah Annie is now having a run in Indian Wells where she toppled Alize Cornet 6-2 6-3 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7 6-3 6-4.
Leylah Annie Fernandez will compete against the world no.44 Shelby Rogers in the 4th round. Their record is 1-0 for Rogers.
Leylah Annie has won 1 title in 2021 in Monterrey. The Canadian got to the final at the U.S. Open.
