Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

2025 US Open: Leylah Fernandez Gives Credit to Venus Williams for Choosing Career in Tennis

Fernandez's career started in 2019 when the 16-year-old Canadian ace reached the Australian Open girls' singles final.

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez faced elimination from the 2025 US Open women’s doubles after a straight-set loss against the top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova. Williams received a wildcard into the US Open and made her first grand slam appearance in two years. She played in all three formats and during this run, she also secured her first Grand Slam win after long time.

After facing an exit in the US Open quarterfinals on Tuesday at Louis Armstrong Arena, Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez shared their thoughts on the journey they had in season’s final Grand Slam. The 7-time major champion still backs herself to continue her tennis career. Leylah Fernandez also gave a beautiful compliment to her doubles partner.

The No. 1 women's doubles pair Taylor Towsend and Katerina Siniakova defeat Leylah Fernandez and Venus Williams at the US Open 💪

An amazing run for Venus and Leylah 👏 pic.twitter.com/jxc4BPxsqq
— ESPN (@espn) September 2, 2025

Leylah Fernandez Gets Honest on Venus Williams after the Exit in the 2025 US Open Women’s Doubles

Leylah Fernandez played alongside Venus Williams for the first time and she loved the bond. The duo made a quarterfinal run and lost to a top-seeded pair so they are proud of their campaign. Fernandez and Williams were yet to drop a set at the US Open when they entered their clash with Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.

Fernandez opened up on Venus Williams and how she considered her an idol before starting the career in tennis. “Seeing Venus playing on court for joy brought me back as to why I started playing tennis, said the Canadian ace said.

“Seeing Venus playing on court for joy brought me back as to why I started playing tennis” 🥹

– @leylahfernandez 💙 pic.twitter.com/8fYltioQPs
— TENNIS (@Tennis) September 3, 2025

Fernandez’s career started in 2019 when the 16-year-old Canadian ace reached the Australian Open girls’ singles final, where she lost to Clara Tauson. In same year, she defeated Emma Navarro in the French Open final to become the first Canadian female winner of a junior Grand Slam title since 2012. At that time, Venus Williams also made herself a legendary player with 7 Grand Slam singles title and 14 major doubles titles.

It was Williams’ first appearance in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam since reaching the semi-finals in the singles in US Open in 2017. It was also her first appearance in the last-8 of the doubles quarter-final since winning Wimbledon in 2016.

“Obviously, I’m so thankful to the USTA for supporting me and my effort here,” Williams said. “It would have not been possible without them and them believing in me to be out here.

“I do have commitments, you know, places I said I’d be, people expecting me to be there, like, the next few weeks,” said Williams. “So I have to go and show up. But I’m very serious about my commitments. I would never want to cancel now, so I’ll try to keep those.

Leylah Fernandez also made exit from the US Open as her campaign in the singles was halted by No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who countered the 2021 finalist in straight sets. Meanwhile, Leylah Fernandez would be proud of her doubles campaign with the seven-time Grand Slam champion, who was the reason of her choosing the career in tennis.

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Venus Williams

Gulshan Sharma

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A native of Jaipur, Rajasthan, journalist, and a complete soccer and basketball fan, he found the huge interest with basketball by watching videos of Allen Iverson and Tony Parker, but fell head over heels in love with the sport during the Warriors’ championship era (2015-2018). A sports game addict since his late PS1, he’s also passionate about the Eagles, Inter Miami and the Fever. He’s fortunate to have seen all his favorite teams win championships. He also has a special love for cricket and football (soccer), where he is a fan of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Barcelona.