Four years ago, they were a pair of nervous, awestruck 16-year-olds, thrilled to be playing on one of the world’s greatest tennis stages. Clara Tauson and Leylah Fernandez met in the Australian Open junior championship in Rod Laver Arena.
“That was a huge surprise that they were able to make that happen for us juniors,” Tauson said at the time. “It was very hard to stay focused, because it was so beautiful to see the name of everyone who won this Grand Slam. It’s amazing I was able to walk down that path.”
A few hours before the women’s final between Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova, the top-seeded Tauson bested Fernandez 6-4, 6-3. Fernandez would go on to win the junior title a few months later at Roland Garros.
Today, Tauson and Fernandez are 20 and finding their way in the world of professional tennis. They meet Tuesday in a second-round match and the result can be seen as something of a progress report, a sign of where they are on the spectrum.
“It’s been a couple of years, but I do remember it being a very, very tough match,” Fernandez said. “She’s an extremely powerful player, a very good player. I think it’s going to be an interesting matchup.”
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They’ve both experienced some terrific highs and, more recently, some injuries that have brought disappointing lows.
Fernandez was a breakthrough teenage finalist in the 2021 US Open, falling to Emma Raducanu. Her ranking rose as high as No.13 last year, but a stress fracture in her foot took her out of play for the entire grass season. She’s currently ranked No.36 among Hologic WTA Tour players and as recently as a few weeks ago was playing a $100,000 ITF event in Madrid.
Caroline Wozniacki, a future No.1 player and Grand Slam singles champion, won the Danish Tennis Championship at the age of 14. Tauson was 13 when she did it in 2016. Three years later, she won nine titles on the ITF circuit, including the one in Melbourne. In 2021, Tauson secured her first two WTA titles, in Lyon and Luxembourg and was a finalist in Courmayeur. A back injury disrupted her 2022 season, and today she’s ranked No.127.
French Open Day 3: Scores | Order of play | Draw
Junior Grand Slams can be effective predictors of coming attractions at the next level. In 1997, Justine Henin won the junior title at Roland Garros -- and went on to win four in the senior division. Similarly, Victoria Azarenka won as a junior in Melbourne and later won two Australian Open crowns. Five years ago, Iga Swiatek won the girls’ championship at Wimbledon and today her Grand Slam singles count stands at three -- and counting.
More often, however, junior champions like Eugenie Bouchard, Kristina Mladenovic, Laura Robson and CoCo Vandeweghe fail to fulfill that spectacular promise as professionals.
Tauson, who qualified her way into the main draw, defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-0 in her first-round match.
“We played each other four times I think in juniors, and she’s a great friend,” Tauson said of Fernandez. “But I also know that she has all the pressure. I mean, she’s US Open finalist and a Top-50 player all the time. I think I’m just going to be happy to be there and see what I can do and hopefully I can do well.”
Fernandez also played a terrific first-round match, prevailing 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 over No.21 seed Magda Linette.
“She’s a very good player,” Fernandez said of Tauson. “She reached the Top 50 at the same time more or less as I did, but then she had injuries and had to stop for a while. She works as hard as all the players here, and it’s going to be a very good second-round match.”
Both players are eager to return to the form that marked them as rising stars.
“I’m a very impatient person, especially when it comes to my tennis,” Tauson said. “I believe a lot in myself. And, yeah, I don’t feel as young as I maybe am. When you play a lot, it’s a different feeling.
“I have to keep reminding myself I’m only 20 years old, and I did some great stuff in the past, but I have to look forward now.”
Other notable Wednesday second-round matches
No.2 Aryna Sabalenka vs. qualifier Iryna Shymanovich: They have never played.
No.3 Jessica Pegula vs. Camila Giorgi: Pegula leads the series 7-2, most recently winning in Indian Wells back in March.
No.5 Caroline Garcia vs. Anna Blinkova: The series is 1-all, but Blinkova won a second-round match four years ago at Roland Garros.
No.9 Daria Kasatkina vs. Marketa Vondrousova: The series is 2-all, but Kasatkina has won both encounters at the majors.
No.17 Jelena Ostapenko vs. Peyton Stearns: They have never played.
Elina Svitolina vs. Storm Hunter: Svitolina won their only previous match.
Karolina Muchova vs. Nadia Podoroska: Podoroska won their only previous match.
Sloane Stephens vs. Varvara Gracheva: Gracheva leads the series 2-1, but they’ve split their 2023 matches.
