Leylah Fernandez Delivers Beautiful Message to US Open Doubles Partner Venus Williams: 'You’ve Motivated Me to Keep Going'

At 45, Venus Williams is still fighting to win matches. Although her singles campaign at the US Open ended in disappointment, Williams, along with doubles partner Leylah Fernandez, is still alive in the tournament.

On Saturday (August 30), the pair of Williams and Fernandez knocked out Eri Hozumi and Ulrikke Eikeri in the second round. During the on-court interview, Fernandez had some beautiful words to say about the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion.

She’s such an inspiration. You have motivated me to keep going on this journey through the good and the bad. Seeing you playing out here, having fun, playing it because you love the sport, it’s motivating. It’s inspirational. So this is your moment, too, and thank you so much for everything you have done.

Williams also played the mixed doubles along with compatriot Reilly Opelka, but their campaign ended in the first round with a straight-set defeat to Andrey Rublev and Karolina Muchova. The tennis great made her comeback at the Citi Open after she was declared an inactive player because she hadn’t played a single tournament since her exit at the 2024 Miami Open.

In the first round of the City Open, the wild card entrant knocked out compatriot Peyton Stearns, becoming the oldest woman to clinch a tour-level win since Martina Navratilova in 2004. But she fell in the second round to Polish player Magdalena Frech. Afterward, Williams also accepted the wild card for the Cincinnati Masters, but there she couldn’t repeat what she did in Washington, losing in the first round to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

Williams and Fernandez will next face either the team of Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai or the team of British players Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal. Fernandez has so far reached one doubles final at the 2023 French Open, which she played alongside Taylor Townsend, losing the match to Hsieh Su-wei and Wang Xinyu.

Williams on the other hand is a 14-time doubles champion, winning all these titles with her sister and 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams. Fernandez’s singles campaign at the US Open also ended with a straight-set defeat to World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round. The 22-year-old was the runner-up at the 2021 US Open singles (lost to Emma Raducanu).

Venus Williams on Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff’s US Open clash

Naomi Osaka has reached the fourth round of the US Open for the first time since her victory in the tournament in 2020. Osaka survived a scare against Daria Kasatkina in the third round, and now she will be up against none other than the player whom she called her little sister – Coco Gauff.