Fresh off her victory at the D.C. Open, Leylah Fernandez had hoped for additional time to gear up for her first-round clash at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, right in her hometown.
However, she found herself in action just over 24 hours after her return to Montreal, going up against Australia’s Maya Joint during Tuesday’s morning session.
Fernandez and Joint took to the court in the final time slot for first-round matches, as the second round commenced that evening.
“WTA regulations dictate that first-round matches must wrap up before the second round can start, ensuring equity for all competitors,” Tennis Canada stated. “Leylah’s late arrival from Washington after her win on Sunday necessitated scheduling her match in the latest possible first-round slot.”
Ultimately, Fernandez fell to Joint in straight sets (6-4, 6-1), visibly displaying signs of fatigue throughout the match.
Ranked No. 45 by the WTA, Joint triumphed over the 24th-ranked Fernandez in a brisk 75 minutes.
After the match, Fernandez expressed her disappointment to reporters, revealing that she had anticipated playing her first-round match during the evening.
“I was led to believe that I would be playing at night,” she stated. “That was disheartening because I was really looking forward to it, but I suppose it boils down to some political concerns.”
Fernandez shared that she and her team learned before the D.C. Open final that she wouldn’t receive an exception for a later match time.
“My sleep schedule was quite off, making it hard to recover as much as I needed,” she mentioned to Sportsnet’s Danielle Michaud.
She arrived back home from the U.S. at around 2 a.m. on Monday and had to attend a foundation event that morning at 8 a.m., which cut into her tournament preparation time.
Valérie Tétreault, the tournament director for the National Bank Open in Montreal, indicated that she “didn’t secure her fight” to delay Fernandez’s match to the evening session, attributing the decision to WTA guidelines.
With the final of the D.C. Open—a WTA 500 event—coinciding with the main draw of the WTA 1000 National Bank Open, Tétreault noted that such scheduling conflicts shouldn’t occur.
“The calendar is intended to prioritize 1000-level tournaments over WTA 500 events, and we’ll need to reassess our scheduling methods,” she concluded.
— With contributions from the Canadian Press
