Leylah Fernandez’s short story at the Indian Wells Tennis Open offers a glimpse of her meteoric rise in professional women’s tennis.

The 19-year-old Lavalouaz will enter the 2022 edition of the tournament, which is ranked 21st in the world, having successfully defended her first WTA title in Monterrey, Mexico.

After taking advantage of the farewell of the first round given to the first 32 players to be ranked (she is 18th), she will start her journey in the desert this weekend against the winner of the duel between Amanda Anisimova and Emma Navarro. Fernandez also faced Navarro in the 2019 Junior French Open final.

Three years ago this week, the then 16-year-old Quebec was not ready to face the best in the world in the California desert.

Then 404th in the world, he had just lost in the first qualifying round of a minor tournament in Nishitama, Japan, with a prize pool of $ 25,000.

Then, two years ago this week, after strong appearances in two Mexican tournaments that raised her to No. 120 in the world, she received an invitation to the main draw at Indian Wells.

An invitation he could never take advantage of.

The tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic one day before the start of the qualifiers – the first signs of a five-month break in 2020 in professional tennis.

Then, just a year ago, when the Indian Wells Open had just been postponed, Fernandez won his first WTA title in Monterrey. However, it happened behind closed doors.

“They had covered the seats with tarpaulins that bore the logo of the tournament. “When I won, there were only a handful of volunteers and ball attendants,” Fernandez recalled in an interview earlier this week.

The Indian Wells Open was introduced last October, just a month after Fernandez reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open.

The Canadian came to the Indian Wells in the top-30, but had not played since her excellent performance in New York.

She lost in the third round, thus ending her season. Now he returns to the same place, having achieved another feat.

Fernandes successfully defended their title in Monterey last Sunday against a much tougher draw since 2021. They saved five points before beating Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5 ).

And this time the stands were full.

“It was magical,” Fernandes agreed. Friends, everyone knows that this sport is like a battlefield. We give what we have and enjoy the moment.

“He took half the field for me and the other half for her. I felt like a football game and I like it. It was good to feel this energy, to see people enjoying the moment. “That’s why we play at this level, because we want everyone to feel that way.”

This triumph also allowed him to turn the page for his exclusion in the first round of the Australian Open in January, against the Australian Maddison Inglis.

“It was just one of those tournaments where everything goes wrong. Every athlete goes through such a series. I just had to take a step back and figure out what had happened, Fernandez explained. Everything went wrong. “Nothing went as planned.”

Fernandez took a few days off, cleared her mind and returned to training when she was ready.

He thought for a while about taking part in the Dubai and Doha tournaments in February, in order to pick up the pace. But in the end, she and Jorge’s coach / father agreed to follow the original plan.

Fernandez will start the Indian Wells Open in doubles on Thursday night with France’s Alizé Cornet.

Expectations will be the same as usual.

“You have to take it one game at a time and not think about the results,” he said. “You have to have fun on the pitch and we hope that good things will happen.”