Fernandez channels Bryant’s ‘Mamba Mentality’ in wake of Wimbledon heartbreak

After dropping the first set, Leylah Annie Fernandez appeared to have turned around her second-round match against Caroline Wozniacki at Wimbledon last Thursday. 

The 21-year-old from Laval, Que. battled back to take the second set and was pushing hard in the third at Court 12. Then, with the sun setting and Wozniacki repeatedly raising the issue of visibility, the match was suspended at 3-3 in the final set. 

"I wasn't too happy that they stopped the match because that was the only match they stopped," Fernandez told TSN. "I noticed that they still had other matches playing. We did have a bit of sunlight left ... I did feel like I had the momentum. I did feel confident in the third set. I was feeling great."

Usually, the match would resume the next day on the same court. But with the other second-round matches in that section of the draw completed and more rain in the forecast, tournament organizers eventually decided to resume the match later that same night under the roof at a mostly empty No. 1 Court. 

"I wanted to get it done," Wozniacki told reporters in her post-match news conference. "When the opportunity was there, I mean, I thought it was great."

Fernandez didn't feel the same way. 

"They were talking about it but there was no conclusive answer," Fernandez said. "We found that out maybe 30, 40 minutes later. When I found out I said, 'I want to play the next day because I've already cooled down. It's been a long period.' For me, it was more about the health side."

The request from Fernandez was denied and the players were sent back out on court at 9:45 p.m., which was a little more than an hour after the suspension.   

"It was a little hard to accept," Fernandez said. 

Fernandez, currently Canada's top singles player in the WTA rankings at No. 25, had to reset quickly. 

"It was something new for me," she said. "It wasn't easy. Normally, I'm asleep at that time too."

Despite the strange situation, Fernandez came out strong and actually held two match points before Wozniacki, 34, stormed back to take the final set 7-5. 

"It was kind of heartbreaking," Fernandez said. "After the match, I was visibly upset. I was visibly upset with how it went down."

Wozniacki, a former World No. 1 who received a wildcard into the main draw, relied on her veteran savvy to get through the tricky circumstances. 

"Credit to Caroline," Fernandez said. "She played an amazing match. She did well in that situation. She had a lot of experience in it. For me, it's just an experience to learn from. Now we know what could happen in a tournament. We just got to be prepared for anything, any curveball that gets thrown at us."

Fernandez fired 45 winners versus only 16 for Wozniacki, but Fernandez also made 44 unforced errors while Wozniacki committed 25. Cleaning that up is a top priority moving forward. 

"I made more unforced errors on the forehand side, especially down the line," Fernandez noted. "I was going for my shots, and it didn't go in when it mattered. A little bit on the returns too. Wozniacki, the champion that she is, serves well in the important moments, so I have to be ready for those moments. It's just little details, technically, too that you gotta keep working on, keep chipping away at, and the results will come."

With that in mind, Kobe Bryant is emerging as a source of inspiration. On the eve of the grass-court season, Fernandez received the late basketball star's book, The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, from her dad and coach Jorge Fernandez.   

"It was a wonderful gift," she said. "l finished it fairly quickly. I learned Kobe was able to just keep his head down and keep working on the details through injuries and through the bad moments that were happening off court. For him to be laser focused on his fundamentals was very impressive, very motivating."

Despite departing Wimbledon with a sour taste in her mouth, Fernandez is coming off the best grass-court campaign in her young career. She reached the quarter-finals at Birmingham and the final at Eastbourne where she posted a win over Barbora Krejcikova, who just advanced to the Wimbledon final. Overall, Fernandez won seven of 10 matches on the surface. She calls it, "My very first successful grass-court season."

Fernandez now faces an awkward transition back to clay as she prepares for the Paris Olympics, which will be held at Roland Garros, site of the French Open, where she reached the third round in May.

The 5-foot-6 lefty will play singles and is also entered in doubles with Ottawa's Gaby Dabrowski, who has advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals with regular partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand.  

The Olympics will be followed by the National Bank Open in Toronto and the rest of the hard-court swing. Fernandez, the US Open finalist in 2021, has compiled her career-best results on hard courts. 

"The next couple of weeks, it will be interesting," Fernandez said. "I know my dad has mentioned we're going to try and play on clay in the morning and hard in the afternoon so I'm always on my toes. I'm just excited for a training block. It's been a while. It's been a while since we have pushed the limits even more. It's an opportunity for me to see what else I can do and what the body can handle." 

Along the way, Fernandez plans to dig even deeper into Bryant's story. 

"He is a huge inspiration for me," she said. "Hopefully I can learn a lot more from him through the book, through his videos, and just keep growing in the right direction."