Leylah Fernandez has drawn inspiration for her Madrid Open campaign from a spontaneous trip to cheer on her beloved Manchester City. The Canadian, famously defeated by Emma Raducanu in the 2021 US Open final, traveled from her previous tournament in Stuttgart to the Spanish capital via the Etihad Stadium to watch City's crucial Premier League match against Arsenal last Sunday.
A Spontaneous Decision
“It was a huge match,” said Fernandez. “Of course, I wish I would have stayed longer in Stuttgart, but we were looking at flights from Stuttgart to Madrid first and I was talking with my dad, and he came up with a crazy idea, why not just go to Manchester? We’re playing against Arsenal, it’s a big match, it’s a determining match to see if Arsenal wins the league or if we can claw our way back. And I’m like, ‘You know what, let’s do it’.”
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime for us, and we saw that I was going to play either Thursday or Friday (in Madrid), so we kind of made that calculation, ‘OK, we’ll have some time to practise. All is good. I had enough match play’. I’m just happy that we were able to make it work, and the seats were amazing, so we had a great time in Manchester. Watching City win was the cherry on top.”
Breaking a Jinx
This was not the first time Fernandez has seen City live, but the 2-1 victory lifted a weight off the 23-year-old’s shoulders. “Every time that we watch Manchester City play live, they have lost,” she said. “I was sweating thinking, ‘Please don’t lose’. If they lose a third time, I’m going to say, ‘I’m the jinx. I’m not going to do this to our team’. When they won, it kind of was a huge sigh of relief for myself, and then it was a big celebration at the end of the night.”
A Footballing Family
Fernandez’s love for football comes from her father and coach, Jorge, a former footballer who moved from Ecuador to Canada as a teenager. Initially, Fernandez supported Real Madrid, but intrigued by Pep Guardiola’s move to the Premier League and hooked on the documentary All or Nothing, she became a City fan. Watching City whenever possible on the road has become a favorite team activity.
“It was quite amazing to see the team grow over the years, and then finally winning the Premier League, Champions League, and, of course, the treble that one year, so that was amazing,” added Fernandez.
Tennis Career and Madrid Open
Like Raducanu, Fernandez has so far been unable to replicate the heights of her magical US Open run five years ago, making it past the third round at a Grand Slam only once since. However, she has been steadier than the British number one and currently sits at 25 in the rankings. Fernandez will face American starlet Iva Jovic in the third round in Madrid on Saturday, and she will draw on her City experience for inspiration.
“It kind of gives me a sense of appreciation to what other athletes do, and what they go through,” she said. “I saw (Erling) Haaland getting pulled, shoved, kicked, right in front of me, and I’m like, ‘Thank goodness that’s not me’, because I don’t know how he does it, so I was quite impressed. And seeing Bernardo (Silva) sprinting from one end of the pitch to the other to defend, it was quite amazing. It kind of put things into perspective for myself – ‘OK, if they’re able to do it for 90 minutes straight, I can run for a yellow ball, where nobody’s hitting me, and just put it in a court where my opponent isn’t’.”
