Leylah Fernandez

Leylah Fernandez

Leylah Fernandez turned 19 halfway through the 2021 US Open and spent the fortnight beating champions. Defending champion Naomi Osaka went first, then Angelique Kerber, then Elina Svitolina, then second seed Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set semi-final. The final went to fellow teenager Emma Raducanu, 6-4, 6-3, but two weeks had turned an unseeded Canadian into box office. She went on to a career-high No. 13 in August 2022 and has gathered 6 tour titles, the biggest at Washington in 2025.

None of it rests on power. Fernandez is a slight left-hander who takes the ball early, redirects pace and finds angles bigger hitters cannot, a game built by her father Jorge, a former Ecuadorian footballer who taught himself coaching and still runs her corner. In Seville in November 2023 she went unbeaten through the week and beat Jasmine Paolini to hand Canada its first Billie Jean King Cup. She is still in her mid-twenties; the final reached at 19 reads less like a peak than a promise.