Back
Tennis star Leylah Fernandez broke down as she revealed that she was mourning a family member during her Pan Pacific Open final defeat to Diana Shnaider. Fernandez could not hold back her tears following the match, sending an emotional message to her family after congratulating her opponent.
The 24-year-old Canadian put up a valiant fight in Tokyo as she went 6-4, 4-0 down before fighting back to win the second set. However, Shnaider claimed the decisive set 6-2 to wrap up the victory in two hours and 18 minutes.
It marks the second time in the space of a week that Fernandez has come up short in an Asian final. She was defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Elena Rybakina in the Ningbo Open in China last weekend.
While clearly going through a difficult time in Tokyo, Fernandez maintained her composure to praise Shnaider for her win before opening up about a difficult period for her family.
“First of all I would like to congratulate Diana. An amazing week, a great match. Congratulations to you and your team. Hopefully we can have many more battles like this one,” she said.
“Second, I would like to thank my coach Eric, who is here. Thank you so much for being here this week and last. We just got to keep going. I want to thank my team who are back home watching. Without your guys’ support this wouldn’t be possible so thank you for always believing in me.”
“And lastly I just want to thank my family who are back home," Fernandez added. "We had some bad news today but thank you so much for all the support, all the messages, it really means a lot.
“And Lolo, I know you are looking down on us so thank you for always being strong and supporting us. I know you are going to take care of us from above, so thank you.”
Fans and heartbroken viewers took to social media to show the former US Open finalist support. "Leylah Fernandez not taking the Championship loss in Tokyo very well at all. This breaks my heart to see," one fan wrote. Another said: "Leylah, stop crying please," accompanied by several broken heart emojis while a third added: "Oh no, Leylah Annie Fernandez found out about a death in the family earlier today before the final."
EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page
In the wake of her victory, Shnaider said, “Firstly, I would like to congratulate Leylah on an amazing week, last week, some great achievements through this Asia Swing. Congrats to you, your coach, and your family back home. Keep going and for sure hope to see you more in the finals like this in the future."
Last year, Fernandez admitted that she suffered after her family went through a scare.“Mental state’s been a little up and down," she said in August 2025.
"My family and I, we went through a bit of a scare earlier this year, and same with my team,” Fernandez revealed ahead of the Cincinnati Masters. “I feel like this year we’ve been challenged a lot off the court.
“Now that we’ve found the balance, things are a lot better. We’re enjoying our time.
Back
Top
| Privacy Statement Terms of Service Contact |
Refresh
|
All the best breaking news stories from Apex Scores Lite. Optimised for feature phones and low end Android devices, Apex Scores Lite helps users with legacy devices and poor network connectivity access the latest football news and live scores. Particularly relevant for breaking football news in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.