Leylah Fernandez is a tennis — and style — star to watch

Canadian tennis sensation Leylah Fernandez exploded onto the international scene last September with her dazzling performance at the U.S. Open. The 19-year-old made it to the finals, where she came in second to British tennis star Emma Raducanu, also 19.

Last week, Fernandez added a new title to her belt: ambassador for Canadian sportswear brand Lululemon. She will wear Lululemon pieces both on and off the court, and provide feedback to the brand as it gets set to launch its first tennis collection later this year.

“Leylah is inspiring people of all ages, as well as the next generation of athletes, to pick up the sport of tennis,” says Michelle Davies, Lululemon’s VP of global sports marketing and partnerships. “We’re proud to be her partner on the amazing journey in front of her.”

Fernandez joins Lululemon’s growing roster of athlete ambassadors, including NBA star Jordan Clarkson, runners and activists Colleen Quigley and Mirna Valerio, and YouTube fitness sensation Joe Wicks. Originally known for yoga gear when it launched in Vancouver in 1998, the brand has expanded its athletic focus of late and was recently named official Olympic outfitter, starting with Team Canada’s ceremonial uniforms for Beijing 2022 next month.

“This is a dream come true,” said Fernandez via Zoom from Australia recently, where she was competing in the Adelaide International tournament. She looks forward to introducing Lululemon to the tennis world and she’s keen to learn from the partnership as well. “It is a big opportunity for me, because not only am I a tennis player but I also would love to get into the business world. I’m taking business courses in university to learn, because my parents want me to be independent.”

Fernandez, who is trilingual, was raised in Montreal by her mother, Irene, who is Filipino Canadian, and her former pro soccer player father, Jorge, who is originally from Ecuador. Jorge serves as coach to both Leylah and her younger sister, Bianca.

She said her hometown of Montreal and its outgoing fashion sense were formative in the development of her personal style, her love of expressing herself through colour and pattern. “I’m an adult, learning from my mistakes, learning to express myself more freely,” Fernandez said. “My personality is outgoing, very positive and bubbly, and that is what I’d like to bring onto the tennis court, too. I’d like to bring different colours, be more explosive, so it matches my personality.”

In an atmosphere in which female athletes are often criticized for what they wear, Fernandez is keenly aware of the line between feedback and censorship. “People are entitled to their opinions, their criticisms, as long as they are not demeaning or insulting,” she said.

Most importantly, when Fernandez is competing, function comes first. “On court, I don’t want to have to think about the clothes and how uncomfortable they feel,” she said. “Lululemon does a great job; the clothes are super comfortable. Every time I wear them, I feel invincible.”

She looks it, too. Fernandez’s U.S. Open success led to another exciting milestone: an invitation to the Met Gala in New York last September. Tennis was well-represented at fashion’s glitziest event, with Naomi Osaka playing co-host. The exclusive guest list, overseen by Vogue editor Anna Wintour (an avid tennis fan), also included Raducanu, Venus and Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Canadian men’s tennis star Felix Auger-Aliassime, a fellow Montrealer.

Fernandez found out she’d be going last minute, but not because her invitation arrived late. “I was super, super excited to have gotten the invite, which I got during the tournament, but my parents and my agent said we’re going to wait it out a little bit. She’s in a groove here and we don’t want to set her off track with this big invitation.” After the finals, “they told me, by the way, you got invited to the Met Gala.”

It was an equally exciting process to visit the Carolina Herrera offices and be fitted for her kicky black-and-white dress. The design was based on a floor-length Herrera gown both Serena and Venus Williams wore for a joint Vogue shoot with Annie Leibovitz back in 1998. The house’s current designer, Wes Gordon, riffed on that theme for Fernandez, updating the silhouette to give it “a little spice,” she said. “A shorter length, more my style.” She describes the full glam experience as “a Cinderella moment.” “The whole process of getting ready, hair, makeup, putting on the shoes — you think of Prince Charming. That is how I felt when my mom put the shoes on me; they fit like a glove.”

Calling the starry night “unreal,” Fernandez said her fellow athletes “showed me the ropes.” She was particularly excited to meet fellow Canadian Simu Liu, star of Marvel’s “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”

“We got to congratulate each other on our successes,” she said. Another standout moment was chatting with the Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello. “She has done such great things for the Latin community. My father is Ecuadorian,” said Fernandez. “It was great to talk and see how she is so independent in her songwriting.”

It’s no doubt just the beginning of an exciting life and career for Fernandez, who says she counts on her solid support system to encourage her to grow and express herself but never forget her roots. “When they see me getting a little ahead of myself, they know how to put a stop to it, bring me back to planet Earth.”