WATCH: Leylah Fernandez shares update on her recovery from foot fracture after she withdraws from Citi Open
Leylah Fernandez has been on the sidelines since suffering a foot injury at this year's French Open, where she was having a fairytale run. Due to that, she even missed the full grasscourt season.
The Canadian sensation was ready to compete in the Citi Open in Washington DC, but her medical staff did not give her the go-ahead.
However, amidst the uncertainty of returning to the tour, Fernandez has found her way back to the practice court in recent days. She took to Instagram to share a video of herself practicing on the hard courts, and captioned it with:
"Feeling alive back on the court," Fernandez captioned the post.
In the video, the 19-year-old was seen smashing powerful forehands and working on her footwork as she practiced on the court.
Additionally, the Canadian withdrew from an exhibition match last weekend. She was scheduled to play against American Coco Gauff at the Atlanta Open, but decided not to go as her medical team advised against playing the match due to her injury.
"It was hard, I was very heartbroken"- Leylah Fernandez
Fernandez explained in a recent interview with TSN that she originally believed the injury she suffered at the quarterfinals of Roland Garros would be transitory and she was utterly devastated to discover the fracture.
"It was hard, the first few days, I was very heartbroken," Fernandez said, adding, "I was hoping it would just be a sprain or that a nerve that got pinched or a muscle in my foot had something wrong, and it would just be a few weeks, but a stress fracture set us back even more."
The Canadian lost a three-setter against Italian Martina Trevisan, who went on to lose to Coco Gauff in the semifinals.
Leylah Fernandez continued by saying that she was devastated by the injury since she knew she was close to making it to a Grand Slam semifinal. She also reminisced about her last four encounter with Coco Gauff at the 2018 French Open juniors event.
"I was heartbroken because I knew I was close to a semifinal of a Grand Slam and potentially playing against Coco Gauff. That would’ve been a great match. I remember playing her in the semi-finals of Roland Garros juniors just a few years ago [in 2018]. It would’ve been so much fun to see us both in that same situation a few years later," she added.
Fernandez will likely make a return to her home tournament in Toronto, which begins on August 9.