Filipina Fernandez vs. Chinese Raducanu, both daughters of immigrants
Updated: September 10, 2021, 7:05 P.M.
Charmaine Janis Rodriguez
With a determination that everything she’d dream of she will achieve, Canadian tennis star Leylah Annie Fernandez will face-off with British player Emma Raducanu in the US Open women’s final on Saturday, September 11, 2021, at 4 PM at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
Fans have been calling her wins magical as a totally unknown Fernandez made it to the finals. She was quoted as saying that she is glad that she followed her dream despite a grade school teacher telling her she will never make it to tennis and just focus on school.
It’s the first time in recent years that teenagers will compete in the finals after Serena Williams, 17, defeated Martina Hingis, 18, in 1999.
Fernandez, 19, and Raducanu, 18, share not only the limelight for defeating top players in their journey to the finals, they were also both born in Canada.
Fernandez, whose father is Ecuadorian and mother is Filipino Canadian, was born in Montreal but her family moved to Florida when she was 12 so she and her sister could focus on their tennis careers.
Raducanu was born in Toronto to a Romanian father and Chinese mother but they moved to Great Britain when she was two years old.
The crowds at Flushing Meadows took notice of Fernandez when she defeated former US Open champions Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber.
She is also the third Canadian woman in the Open Era to reach the US Open Championships semis. Canada’s Carling Bassett-Seguso made it in 1984 while Bianca Andreescu qualified in 2019.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted his support for Fernandez “We’ve got a Canadian in the US Open final!”
In a televised press conference, he also gave a huge shoutout to Fernandez for winning the semi-finals and expressed the country’s excitement for her achievement.
After beating world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka Thursday night, Fernandez gushed with the presence of Canadian professional basketball coach and former NBA player Steve Nash, who was at her player’s box.
“It’s a huge inspiration, I remember my dad used him as an example one time for a whole month, telling us that we gotta fight, we gotta work hard just like Steve Nash. So it’s an honor to have you here watching me and cheering for me,” she said of Nash.
“And hopefully, we can have a tennis match soon!,” she added.
Filipino-Canadian fans are also all-out for their support for Fernandez.
In an interview with CTInsider, Fernandez’s father, Jorge, who is also her coach, sees his wife’s influence providing the same fighting spirit on his daughter’s game.
“She’s got Filipino blood in her. It’s beautiful,” Jorge said.
Proud to represent Canada
“Canada has done so much for us, especially for my dad, for my grandparents,” Fernandez said in a television interview with ESPN. “They never had it easy, but they fought for everything and all the opportunities that they got they did it two times more just for me and for my whole family, for my sisters, so that we could have a better life. So we can enjoy as much as we can, and not have the difficulties that they had.”
Jorge, who is also Leylah’s coach, got very emotional in an on-camera interview with Mark Masters. It all started with a simple question: what does it mean to represent Canada?
“You know, there’s a lot of talk in the news about immigrant people, and I understand nationalist sentiments and I understand how we need to protect… I understand all that. I don’t want to get political, that’s not what I’m doing. What I’m telling you is that we’re an immigrant family and we had nothing. We got in with nothing.
“Canada opened up its doors, and if they wouldn’t have done what they did, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I have, and I wouldn’t have been able to give them to my daughter. And that’s it. So, it means a lot, ” Jorge was quoted in DailyHive.Com.
Filipino-Canadians also proud
“We are so proud of her as Fil-Canadians. The two countries are so proud of her. As a Filipino-Canadian myself, I am ecstatic for her—a young lady who we can emulate and who has made her parents so proud. Go, go, Leylah. US Open, here she comes,” said Treenee Lopez of the Global Pinoy Diaspora Canada.
“For sure, you will be an inspiration to other women your age (or younger). Dream big! The world is right in front of you. Bravo! Raise your feet, enjoy this day and may you be showered with more blessings and wins in the years to come. All the best on Saturday! I will be rooting for you that’s for sure,” said Filipino-Canadian Debbie Arkoncel, a former world bowling champion, and an avid tennis fan.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso also tweeted and expressed his congratulations to Fernandez.
“Congratulations to @leylahfernandez, a great Canadian tennis player of Ecuadorian descent,” Lasso tweeted.
However, there is no official statement yet from the Philippine government.