Leylah Fernandez: "My goal will always be to be No. 1 in the world"
Leylah Fernandez hasn't been able to recreate the magic of her 2021 US Open run, but the 20-year-old remains firm in her dreams and goals. Speaking in a recent interview, the Canadian maintained that her ultimate goal is to become World No. 1, adding that winning Grand Slams wouldn't be too bad either.
Fernandez burst onto the scene at Flushing Meadows in 2021, reaching the final with wins over the likes of Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka. In the summit clash, however, she fell to Emma Raducanu in an all-teenager final.
The days since have not been kind to the former World No. 13, who has now fallen outside the top 50 due to a combination of unfortunate injuries and poor form. Speaking to Kenny Castro (as quoted by Punto De Break) during her time at the Miami Open, where she has reached the semifinals in doubles, the World No. 53 touched on her career goals, stating that she would like to be more consistent going forward as well.
While her goals of becoming No. 1 in the world and winning Grand Slams were important to her, Leylah Fernandez made it clear that she also wanted to end the year much better physically and mentally.
"My goal is to be more consistent in tournaments, to reach the quarterfinals as many times as possible. Beyond this, my goal will always be to be No. 1 in the world, that will always be my goal, in addition to winning Grand Slams. I also I would like to end the year much better physically and mentally," Fernandez said.
In the semifinals of the 2023 Miami Open, Fernandez and her partner Taylor Townsend will take on Bernarda Pera and Magda Linette. The Canadian-American pair scored an upset over third seeds Jelena Ostapenko and Liudmila Kichenok in the quarterfinals, while Pera and Linette beat Anhelina Kalinina and Irina-Camelia Begu in the last eight.
Leylah Fernandez has quarterfinal points to defend at the upcoming French Open
Heading into the clay swing after the Miami Open, Leylah Fernandez does not have a lot of points to defend until the French Open. The Canadian faced Round-of-32 exits at the Charleston Open, the Madrid Open and the Italian Open last year, losing to Magda Linette, Jil Teichmann and Daria Kasatkina, respectively.
However, the 20-year-old made an impressive run at Roland Garros, reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time. After beating Belinda Bencic and Amanda Anisimova along the way, she lost to Martina Trevisan, also exacerbating an injury in the process which forced her to stay on the sidelines for a long while.