“I wanted her to stop” Leylah Fernandez’s father Jorge chokes up during an interview discussing his daughter’s serious foot fracture suffered at the French Open
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Jorge Fernandez and Leylah Fernandez
Leylah Fernandez exits the Stade Roland Garros with mixed feelings. Despite rising to career-high World No. 15, the Canadian youngster also picked up a serious injury during her quarter-final match against Martina Trevisan at the 2022 French Open. Martina won the match 6-2, 6-7(7), 6-3 to advance to her maiden Grand Slam semi-final.
Leylah had put up a strong fight during the second set saving match points as Trevisan won the match nearly 55 minutes later since she first had match points up for grab. Leylah had however injured her foot during the match and despite her father Jorge Fernandez, who is also her coach, insisting her to forfeit the match, the player continued to play with restricted movements.
As a result of delayed treatment, Leylah has suffered a Grade 3 stress fracture and she could be out for more than a month although the timeline has not been yet set for her comeback. Leylah was however praised for her spirit and attitude to not give up easily but that could now prove costly for her as she was just gaining momentum going into the season.
“Anger. I was very angry. I was very concerned. It’s hard because you got both hats on (father and coach) and of course as a coach you kind of say that, ‘what you got yourself into, you’ve got to do it. That’s your decision if you going to make, then going ahead. That’s one of the problems with WTA that we don’t get a chance to consult the players.
“We don’t get a chance to call a simple 30-second timeout and see what’s really going on. I know they tried in the past but I wonder why they stopped because I think there was a moment I could have put some sense into her and maybe what it is now, it could have been a little less. As a father, I was concerned and sad and I wanted her to stop,” said Jorge speaking with TSN Canada.
Leylah Fernandez not present on the entry list for the 2022 Wimbledon
As per TSN, the stress fracture suffered by Leylah has been diagnosed between the second and third toes on her right foot and had her match continued for a longer time, the damage could have been worse. Ideally, she should have stopped earlier but the decision to keep on playing has caused the Grade 3 fracture.
Leylah does not feature in the entry list for the 2022 Wimbledon Championships as the Grand Slam begins on the 27th of June and in no case can Leylah make it to the major fully fit. From the reports of TSN, Leylah has set the 2022 Citi Open in Washington as her comeback tournament in an ideal preparation scenario for the 2022 US Open.
Also Read: List of records broken by Rafael Nadal after winning the 2022 French Open
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)