Why Leylah’s Round 1 Loss In Australia Makes Sense

Leylah Annie Fernandez came into 2022 as one of the fastest growing stars in the tennis world. After reaching the final at the US Open in a cinderella run, her profile grew exponentially after being mostly known by only Canadian tennis lovers.

Losing 1st Round at a Major after reaching the final of the previous one is always a disappointment, and Leylah is undoubtedly sharing the largest portion of it.

But it makes sense.

You could see this loss coming from a couple weeks away, as we’ve seen this storyline multiple times over the past few seasons in the women’s game.

The Weight of Expectation

Tennis is mentally tough enough as it is - but quickly transitioning from no expectations to lots of expectations is maybe the toughest test in tennis.

On paper Leylah Fernandez was the clear favourite over Australian Wildcard Maddison Inglis, who had never won a Major main draw match.

But in the weeks leading up to the AO, Leylah announced sponsor deals with massive brands like Google, Gatorade, and Lululemon. This materialized her rise in status as these brands want to be attached to winners.

She also became Canada’s #1 female player at the end of 2021.

That’s new pressure.

A new attitude starting a match vs an opponent like Inglis who is ranked fairly close to where Leylah was at this time last year ( #88).

So, in reality there was not much as far as level or experience that separated Fernandez and Inglis, but one was expected to cruise through (Leylah) and one was expected to hopefully put up a good fight (Maddison).

Leylah looked uncomfortable and was rushing herself. Maddison played lights out and and thrived in her home conditions.

A perfect recipe for an upset.

It’s All Good

Leylah is 19 years old.

Even though we’ve seen this same story unfold with young players, it’s impossible to prepare for.

Leylah will get used to playing with expectation, and she will hopefully go on to have a wildly successful career in the game.

She’s too strong not to, we saw that in New York.

Just wait.

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