Leylah Fernandez Questions Scheduling at Canadian Open After Defeat
Canadian tennis player Leylah Fernandez expressed her dissatisfaction with the scheduling of the National Bank Open, after being eliminated in the first round of the tournament at home on Tuesday. Fernandez, who had won the title in Washington just two days earlier, was defeated by Australian Maya Joint with a score of 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and fifteen minutes. The number 24 in the world ranking, was looking for more rest after her victory in Washington, where she won her fourth WTA title.Fernandez revealed that he was promised to play in the Tuesday night session, which would have given him more time to recover, but he found out on Sunday, while traveling, that this would not be possible. Instead of Fernandez, Coco Gauff, the first seed, played against Danielle Collins at the start of the night session, achieving her first victory since the French Open final. Valerie Tetreault, tournament director of the National Bank Open in Montreal, responded that she promised Fernandez that she “would fight for her to have the time she wanted”.“I received many promises”
Leylah Fernandez
Tetreault added that exceptions had already been made for Fernandez, the 2021 US Open runner-up. Fernandez and Joint were among the last three first-round matches held on Tuesday, even though half of Fernandez’s draw began playing on Sunday. Tennis Canada issued a statement explaining that “WTA protocols stipulate that first-round matches must be completed before second-round matches are played, ensuring fairness for all players.” They added that, since Leylah won the title in Washington on Sunday, she was unable to arrive in Montreal until early Monday morning. As a result, the WTA decided to schedule her opening match in the latest possible time slot of the first round. Mirra Andreeva, the fourth seed, advanced to the third round after Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, retired due to an ankle injury during her first-round victory. Seventh seed Jasmine Paolini was surprised by Aoi Ito of Japan in a tiebreak in the third set, while eighth seed Emma Navarro defeated Rebecca Marino 6-1, 6-2.“But I didn’t win my fight,” Tetreault noted, explaining that the WTA Tour is the one that determines the schedule. “I received the request to play at night. It’s my job to have conversations with the WTA, so I pushed as hard as I could to get what she wanted.”
Valerie Tetreault
