Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu made history when they reached the US Open final in 2021.
Fernandez and Raducanu were part of the first all-teenage women’s singles final at the US Open in 22 years at the 2001 New York major.
This was a huge breakthrough for both players, as Raducanu beat Fernandez to become the first ever player in history to win a Grand Slam title as a qualifier.
As a result of this final, there has been a lot of attention on both Raducanu and Fernandez’s careers since then, and now the latter has given an insight into their relationship.
Leylah Fernandez admits she has never spoken to Emma Raducanu about the 2021 US Open final
Fernandez was asked about the US Open final against Raducanu in a newly released interview with German outlet Tennis Magazin, which took place earlier this year.
While Fernandez admitted that she has never spoken to Raducanu about the final before, she hopes to do so at some point when both of their careers are over.
“It’s really strange, but we’ve never talked about it,” said Fernandez. “Probably because of our mentality: we’re competitors, we’re still playing against each other.
“But I think we’ll catch up on it when our careers are over. That we can sit down for coffee and say, “Remember when we managed that?” Then we can share funny stories about it. Right now, we’re still so young and have many years ahead of us on the tour. We’d rather look ahead.”
Fernandez played Raducanu in the biggest match of her career so far, but they have not faced each other in the five years since then.
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Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu’s careers since the 2021 US Open final
Fernandez and Raducanu have had very different trajectories since the 2021 US Open, mostly as a result of physical issues to the latter.
Raducanu has the higher career-high ranking of the two players, having been world number 10 in 2022, but Fernandez is the much higher-ranked player of the two right now as the world number 30.
Fernandez has won five of her six WTA titles since the 2021 US Open final, most recently at the WTA 500 tournament in Singapore. However, Raducanu is yet to get her hands on any silverware since then, having reached her first two finals since winning the US Open at the Transylvania Open and the Queen’s Club Championships this year.
In terms of Grand Slam tournaments, it is Fernandez who has got the closest to reaching another final, having made it to the quarter-finals of Roland Garros in 2022. Raducanu’s best run at a major was at her home major of Wimbledon in 2024, when she reached the fourth round.
A significant feature of Fernandez’s run to the US Open final in 2021 was her three wins against top 10 players, but she has not found as much success against the best players since then, with Raducanu struggling even more in this category.
| Since the 2021 US Open final | Leylah Fernandez | Emma Raducanu |
| Best ranking | No.13 | No.10 |
| Current ranking | No.30 | No.109 |
| Titles won | 5 | 0 (2 finals) |
| Best Grand Slam result | Quarter-final (Roland Garros 2022) | Fourth Round (Wimbledon 2024) |
| Record vs top 10 players | 7-27 (20.6%) | 3-17 (15%) |
Fernandez still has two more tournaments to play in 2026, while Raducanu appears to have ended her season already after not playing since her aforementioned run to the Queen’s final, when she suffered a stress fracture in her lower right foot.
While they have not played against each other since the 2021 US Open final, there will be a lot of attention if Raducanu does ever play Fernandez again.
