{"id":84149,"date":"2025-07-22T21:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T21:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84149\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T21:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T21:01:09","slug":"the-montreal-date-sweepstakes-is-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84149\/","title":{"rendered":"The Montreal date sweepstakes is on"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: This story includes quotes from an interview conducted by Tennis.com\u2019s David Kane at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last Friday, Leylah Fernandez had a sassy and unprecedented invitation for her 350,000 followers on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey guys,\u201d she began, smiling broadly, \u201cYou know what I really want to do, and that I haven\u2019t done, is actually going on a date. I\u2019m not a big fan of dating apps, so I\u2019m actually going to do things my way.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then she asked anyone interested in a one-hour date next week when the Hologic WTA Tour arrives in her hometown of Montreal to direct message her with some personal details. More than 100 came through the very first day. They\u2019re still coming.<\/p>\n

On Monday, at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, Fernandez, 22, confirmed she has never, ever gone on a date. She\u2019s been too busy playing professional tennis. Fernandez soared into prominence nearly four years ago, reaching the US Open final and, a year later, posting a career-high ranking of No. 13.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, the idea came from \u2026 her father (and coach) Jorge. No, we assure you, this is\u00a0not\u00a0a dad joke.<\/p>\n

Prompted by the socially adroit\u00a0tennis.com<\/a>\u00a0writer David Kane, Fernandez recounted the conversation that started it all:<\/p>\n

Jorge:<\/strong> So, have you gone on a date yet?<\/p>\n

Leylah:<\/strong> No, I haven\u2019t. I never really had the time, and nobody has really asked me — which I don\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n

Jorge:<\/strong> So let\u2019s just do something fun. How about you post a little video on Instagram and have a little date in Montreal, where you feel at home, feel comfortable, where it all started. So, it\u2019s like a big full circle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Leylah:<\/strong> That\u2019s a great idea, dad.<\/p>\n

Jorge:<\/strong> But \u2026 he has to meet me first.<\/p>\n

Leylah:<\/strong> Yes, that\u2019s 100 percent fair.<\/p>\n

And, very quickly, that \u201cfunny conversation\u201d went from unserious to, \u201cOK, we\u2019re actually going to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that surprised Fernandez was the response of other athletes, some of them fellow Olympians four years ago in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say, \u2018I know how you feel, because when I was 22 I hadn\u2019t gone on a date, I\u2019m always studying, going to sport competitions,\u2019\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cReading those messages makes me feel better. It makes me feel like I\u2019m not the odd one out. It\u2019s pretty cool that we\u2019re able to have that conversation all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s the vetting process:<\/p>\n

Every night, Fernandez goes through the newly arrived DMs and forwards the ones of interest to her team, which includes her father and sisters Bianca and Jodeci. They will forward their recommendations and ultimately Fernandez will make the call.<\/p>\n

Being based in Montreal, of course, is a plus. A deep knowledge of tennis, however, isn\u2019t mandatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they know tennis, they know tennis, If they don\u2019t I don\u2019t really mind,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cIt\u2019s also getting to know each other, know what his hobbies are, what he likes. And he can ask me the same. Because I\u2019m a tennis player, but that\u2019s not all I am.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a little conversation that we\u2019re going to be having, seeing if there\u2019s mutual interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her dream date? Maybe meet in a nice little coffee shop, some orange juice and a pastry. Conversation and perhaps a walk in the park or an ice cream.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething simple,\u201d Fernandez said, \u201cwhere we get to know each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing too serious, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fun activity, it\u2019s a fun way to connect with my fans,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cFor me, I\u2019m just going to take it one date at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: This story includes quotes from an interview conducted by Tennis.com\u2019s David Kane at the Mubadala Citi…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[62,1464,4063,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-84149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-text","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114898906931848493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}