Leylah Fernandez plays a shot against Martina Trevisan during their quarterfinal match at the French Open in Paris on May 31.The Associated Press
Leylah Fernandez of Montreal is one of five Canadian women in the National Bank Open’s singles tournament, which starts on Monday at Toronto’s Sobeys Stadium. The 19-year-old had been recovering from a foot injury and was only cleared to play in the tournament last Thursday. She is one of several players hoping for an impactful return to play at the WTA event.
“When I did get the green light from my doctor, that was the best hour and a half of news that I could ever ask for,” the 13th-seeded Fernandez said on Saturday.
Bianca Andreescu, from nearby Mississauga, is also looking for a return of sorts. She won the event in 2019 – when it was still called the Rogers Cup – and then earned her first Grand Slam title, winning the U.S. Open for her best season ever. The victories, which both came off of all-time great Serena Williams, propelled Andreescu up to world No. 4.
Most recently, Andreescu has had issues with her back but she said on Sunday that she would be ready to go for her first-round match at the National Bank Open.
“I practised today and I already felt much better than all the other days that I’ve been practising,” said Andreescu, who added she saw a lot of familiar faces in the crowd during her training session.
“So I think it’s the court, I think it’s the environment. It just holds so many great memories.”
Toronto is hosting the women’s side of the tournament and Montreal the men’s events. In both cases, players from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete for the first time since March 1 when tennis’s governing bodies banned players from those countries in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino, Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Toronto’s Katherine Sebov are the other Canadians in the singles tourney.
Seventeen-year-old Marina Stakusic, also from Mississauga, had hoped to become the sixth Canadian in the singles tournament but lost to Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 on Sunday in the second round of qualifying at the WTA event.