WATCH: Father of Leylah Fernandez breaks down while speaking about his daughter's injury
WTASaturday, 04 June 2022 at 15:45
Updated at Wednesday, 11 December 2024 at 14:55
Leylah Fernandez lost her 2022 Roland Garros quarter-final against Martina Trevisan, and her father, Jorge Fernandez, revealed what happened in the match.
Fernandez appeared to be in heavy pain early on during her match against Trevisan at the French Open. The Canadian took a pill and battled on, ultimately losing in three sets, 2-6, 7-6(3), 3-6.
When the Wimbledon entry lists were published, she was not on it, which means that she will miss this year's Wimbledon Championships due to the same problem that bothered her during that Roland Garros quarter-final.
In a recent interview with TSN Sports, a very emotional Jorge Fernandez, who is Leylah's father but also a coach, explained how it felt watching her play in pain.
"Anger. I was very angry and very concerned. Again, it’s hard because you have both hats on and, of course, as a coach you kind of say like, okay you know what you got yourself into. That’s your decision that you’re going to make, then go ahead."
As a father and a coach, Jorge Fernandez would want to be able for his player to call a time-out, which is not a possibility in tennis. This would allow him to consult his daughter, and advice her to possibly stop playing, which he couldn't do.
"That’s one of the problems with the WTA is you don’t get a chance to consult our players. We don’t get a chance to call a simple 30-second time-out and see what is really going on. I know they tried it in the past and just wonder why it stopped."
"I think there was moment where I could’ve put some sense into her. And maybe instead of it being what it is now, it could’ve been a little bit less. Of course as a father I’m concerned and sad and I wanted her to stop."
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