Leylah Fernandez rips tournament organizers after crashing out of NBO
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Not only did she exit the court crushed by her lacklustre performance before a hometown crowd — tears still running down her cheeks more than 90 minutes after the match — Fernandez also blamed unfavourable scheduling that set her up to fail.
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The top-ranked Canadian crashed out of the National Bank Open's first round with a lopsided 6-4, 6-1 loss to Australia's Maya Joint on Tuesday afternoon, two days after hoisting her fourth WTA crown at the D.C. Open.
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Fernandez said she received 'a lot of promises' that she would take the court during Tuesday's night session, giving her more time to rest between the two tournaments, but learned Sunday while travelling to Montreal from Washington that wouldn't be the case.
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'I did not receive that,' she said. 'That hurt me because I was very looking forward to be playing at night, but I guess it's a little bit political issues at that point.'
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Valerie Tetreault, the National Bank Open tournament director in Montreal, responded that she promised Fernandez she would 'fight so that she could have the time she wanted.'
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'But I didn't win my fight,' Tetreault said, noting that the WTA Tour determines scheduling. 'I received the request for her to play in the evening. It's my role to have conversations with the WTA, so I pushed as much as possible for her to have what she wanted.'
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Tetreault added that exceptions had already been made for Fernandez. The 22-year-old from Laval, Que., and Joint were among the final three first-round matches held until Tuesday, despite her half of the bracket starting play on Sunday.
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Fellow D.C. Open finalist Anna Kalinskaya of Russia was also scheduled to play no earlier than 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, but she won her match 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-3 over Ann Li of the United States.
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'Normally when we have matches that are delayed, when there is catch-up to do, we have to play them as early as possible during the day,' Tetreault said. 'We pushed her at least so that it wouldn't be the first match at 11 a.m. to give her a chance to recover.'
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Tennis Canada backed up Tetreault's words in a statement.
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'WTA protocols mean first-round matches need to be completed before second-round matches are played, ensuring fairness to all players,' the statement read. 'Given Leylah won the title in Washington on Sunday, she was not able to arrive in Montreal until the early hours of Monday morning. As a result, the WTA made the decision to play her opening match in the latest possible first-round slot.'
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