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During difficult financial times for Leylah Fernandez’s family, her parents brought jewelry and watches to a Montreal pawnshop to help fund tennis training and travel for her and her younger sister, Bianca. It was not easy, but it was done without hesitation.
“When you ask your children to work hard and sacrifice themselves, you have to show that you are willing to do the same,” Leylah’s father Jorge Fernandez said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “We sold our house, I sold my business. These are the things you do to help your children achieve their dreams.
A former journeyman football player, who learned tennis by reading and watching videos, Fernandez’s father has coached her since she was a schoolgirl. Although he has never played tennis, he said he understands the sport and describes himself as a tough, old-fashioned task master.
“I believe in the grind,” he said at a press conference on Friday. “I believe in hard work. I believe in suffering. If we do it enough, then we get really, really strong. “
Fernandez said that despite the diligence and sacrifice he demanded of his daughters, 19-year-old Leylah insisted he continue training her, although he said he would prefer someone others take over. For now, he’s keeping the job, and although he’s not at the US Open, he’s still Leylah and Bianca’s technical, strategic and motivational advisor.
The day before Leylah’s games, they discuss tactics on the phone. On the morning of the game, they have another call to go over the details of her day, including when to eat and transport, how and when she will train and warm up. Then just before the game, they talk to each other one last time on the phone.
“It’s kind of like the father-daughter conversation,” he said, and added, “A virtual hug and a kiss.”
This conversation is often centered around feeling and emotion, depending on how Fernandez feels about his daughter. He might just tell her to have fun on the pitch – which he said just before she beat third seed Naomi Osaka.
Sometimes if he senses his daughter’s nervousness or the fear of the moment, he talks about it, he said, so that she can deal with the nervousness and overcome it.
“I know we’re saying she’s just amazing with her state of mind right now,” he said. “She shows so much fighting. But she’s human and she feels those emotions.
Before going to court against Raducanu, 18, Jorge Fernandez plans to motivate his daughter by recognizing the stake of a Grand Slam final.
“Let’s leave everything on the table,” he said. “Let everything sweat. Let’s make sure that no matter how it ends, there are no regrets.
At the start of the tournament, when Fernandez beat Osaka and then 16th seed Angelique Kerber – then No.5 Elina Svitolina and No.2 Aryna Sabalenka – many speculated that her fitness trainer, Duglas Cordero, who was sitting next to it of his mother, was his father.
But Jorge Fernandez stayed at home in Florida throughout the tournament to care for Bianca – the family moved to Florida several years ago so Leylah could train year round on affordable public courts. Fernandez calls himself the “king of the public courts”.
Eventually, as Fernandez progressed through the women’s draw, Bianca flew to New York to join the fun. But Jorge Fernandez hasn’t traveled for a big reason: he and his daughter are “extremely superstitious,” he said.
“Look,” he added, “I used the same shampoo on game day, I kind of use the same jeans on game day, I think the same socks and underwear. It’s taken on a completely different level.
Father and daughter agree that there is no reason to play with success. So he’ll be watching the final from home, with the right jeans, the right socks and underwear, and the right shampoo in his hair. Her daughter has already been guaranteed $ 1.25 million and could take home $ 2.5 million if she wins. Perhaps they will be able to redeem the watches and jewelry they pledged so many years ago.
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