One of Leylah Fernandez’s primary goals for the 2025 season is defeating … uh, boredom.

“It’s crazy when I say I was younger -- because I’m still really young -- but three years ago, I was so naïve,” she said Tuesday from Abu Dhabi. “I was excited about everything, and that excitement brought in adrenaline, and that adrenaline brought in a lot of energy.

“But I guess now, because I’ve traveled a lot and I’m still playing the same tournaments, I get bored a lot easier. It’s been something I’ve been working on with my team. I appreciate that they’re willing to go above and beyond with my antics.”

To that point, before Fernandez even hit her first serious ball at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, she and her team -- father/coach Jorge Fernandez and a hitting partner -- had already visited the Abu Dhabi Mall with its 200-plus shops, the Louvre’s spectacular satellite museum -- and gone bowling.

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Another thought: Just play tiebreaks.

Fernandez’s concentration wandered at times during Tuesday’s first-round match against lucky loser Moyuka Uchijima, but she was spot-on in two tiebreaks, winning 14 of 17 points. The 7-6(3), 7-6(0) victory ran 2 hours and 8 minutes, setting up Wednesday’s second-round match against Lulu Sun. 

Sun was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Caroline Garcia on Monday. The irony? New Zealand’s Sun was voted last year’s Newcomer of the Year and, at the age of 23, she’s one year older than Fernandez.

Yes, Fernandez, still only 22, seems like she’s been doing this forever. At 16, she became Canada’s first junior champion at Roland Garros in 2019, defeating Emma Navarro. Less than one week after her 19th birthday, she reached the finals at the 2021 US Open. That meeting with eventual champion Emma Raducanu, herself a teenager, stunned and enthralled the tennis world.

They have both struggled to replicate that result.

“It came in quick and it came in fast,” Fernandez told wtatennis.com. “Pre-US Open there was pressure, but not like there is now. It’s been very difficult. I have high goals, high objectives and that pushes me. And when I don’t accomplish those goals, I get angry with myself. Unfortunately, I also get angry at my team.

“My dad knows how much my objectives sometimes frustrate me. He’s able to tell me, 'OK, you can calm down now.’ Or 'Use that energy the right way on the tennis court.’ Having him in my corner really does help.”

After that US Open, there was a staggering financial windfall, into eight figures.

With a father who immigrated to Canada from Ecuador and a mother, Irene, who was born to Filipino immigrants, Leylah was a sought-after ambassador for high-end, global companies. She represents the Canadian company Lululemon, as well as SAP, Babolat, Gatorade, Google, Morgan Stanley -- among many others. 

And with that, the pressure to sustain it became even greater.

Despite their common experience -- Fernandez and Raducanu will likely always be linked in people’s minds -- the two have never talked about that fall day in New York.

“It would be interesting,” Fernandez said thoughtfully. “But now because it’s in-season and we want to do well in our own careers, we try to put it behind us. We don’t want to focus on it too much.

“Maybe at the end of the season when we cross paths, maybe we could have a conversation about it. For now, you can’t be thinking about the past, you have to be thinking about what you’re doing right now.”

Since reaching that major final, Fernandez has been steady. She won titles in Monterrey (2022) and Hong Kong (2023) and after reaching career-high of No. 13 in 2022, finished No. 40, No. 35 and No. 31 the past three years.

Right now she’s ranked No. 27 and has won six of nine matches this year. It would be six-for-seven if she hadn’t fallen twice to No. 3-ranked Coco Gauff. Fernandez lost a 6-4, 6-2 third-round decision to Gauff in Melbourne, but it was her best Australian Open performance to date.

The left-handed Fernandez is a marvelous defender and has been working on her return of serve and continuing to take the ball early and be more aggressive. Her goal, Fernandez said, is to remain emotionally and physically healthy and finish in the year-end Top 10.

To the persistent question that she faces everywhere -- can she return to that level of the 2021 US Open -- Fernandez has a surprising answer.

“I think I am at that level right now,” she said. “A lot of the players know me, there’s a lot more video. I do a lot of video analysis and we always look for holes and weaknesses for the opponent, and I’m sure they’re doing the same for me. 

“All the players are improving and getting better every year. I feel like my tennis is where it was in 2021, we’re just trying to get that a little bit better so we can get an edge.”