NEW YORK —
Denied the U.S. Open championship trophy, Leylah Fernandez decided to make off with the spotlight instead.
Visibly exhausted, her face both beaming and wet with tears, the 19-year-old Fernandez — bested in Saturday’s women’s final in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, by an even younger British tennis darling —
refused to say goodbye to Flushing Meadows.
Rather: until next time.
“I want to be back here next year,” Fernandez told the fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium, basking in their sustained affection, before she hoisted the runner-up’s ubiquitous silver platter, that perennial symbol of second place.
“Only, with the right one,” she added. “With the right trophy.”
And then, as if the New York crowd didn’t love her enough, Fernandez acknowledged the awkward timing of Saturday’s championship match, coming as it did on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“Thank you for having my back, thank you for cheering me on,” she said. “I hope I can be as strong and resilient as New York has been the last 20 years.”
What might have been a fairy-tale finish for a new Canadian tennis star was instead a coming-out party for a British one: Emma Raducanu, 18, a qualifier who made it through to the end without dropping a single set, taking home the hardware and a US$2.5-million cheque for her trouble.
For Fernandez, what had been a remarkable run to the final ended in disappointment, as well as a measure of controversy.
She seemed to struggle with her serve throughout the afternoon, managing to land only 56 per cent of her first serves and double-faulting five times, often at the most critical moments.
“Unfortunately, today I just made one too many mistakes, and I think Emma noticed it and she took advantage of it,” Fernandez said.
“I’m still disappointed; I think this loss, I’m going to carry it for a very long time, and I think it will motivate me to do better training and be better for the next opportunity I get.”
As she’s done throughout the tournament, just when it began to look like she was flagging, an acrobatic backhand or blistering down-the-line forehand would find a corner of the court just outside Raducanu’s reach.
More than once, she took what seemed a certain win for Raducanu and gradually wore her back to deuce, often ending exhaustive rallies with a delicate little backhand slice that pulled her opponent to the net and out of position.
She did it again at one of the most critical moments of the match: with Raducanu leading 5-2 in the second set and poised over the championship point, Fernandez battled back to win the game to the delight of an appreciative crowd.
Other times, a fearsome cross-court forehand out of nowhere would send Raducanu diving in vain, a wry smile crossing Fernandez’s face.
But the cool-headed Brit had more than a few tricks up her sleeve, including a powerful one-handed forehand Fernandez was often helpless to catch.
The 18-year-old qualifier betrayed no evidence of nerves, often blowing on her fingertips after a hard-won point or piercing the air with a triumphant shout.
“She played incredible tennis,” Raducanu said of Fernandez before carting off the championship trophy.
“I thought the level was extremely high, and I hope we play each other in many more tournaments — and hopefully finals.”
The normally emotive Fernandez seemed almost subdued throughout the match, allowing herself only modest little fist pumps, despite the encouragement of a New York crowd that was clearly smitten with both young stars.
That changed late in the second set, where — sensing opportunity where others might find only despair — the fist pumps came more quickly, the smiles more easily, often with a knowing glance at her trainer and family members in the crowd.
That’s when Raducanu, her left knee bloodied by a sliding shot attempt, was granted a medical time-out, a development that seemed to visibly frustrate her opponent.
Fernandez could be seen arguing with officials about the decision to grant the time-out, particularly at a moment in the match when she was clearly riding a wave of momentum.
“I want to play,” she told the official at one point.
Later, she shrugged it off, saying she wasn’t aware how seriously Raducanu was hurt, and attributed her complaint to the heat of the moment.
“It was just too bad that it happened at that specific moment, with me and the momentum that I had,” she said.
“It’s sports, it’s tennis, and you’ve just got to move on.”
Fernandez, who’s based in Boynton Beach, Fla., but represents Canada, defeated WTA Tour stars Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka en route to the championship.
She was ranked 73rd in the world at the start of the tournament but has played like a seasoned veteran.
Her opponent was also an unexpected finalist: Raducanu, the world No. 150, is a Toronto native who moved overseas to the London area at age two. She needed to get through the qualifying rounds just to make it to the main draw.
Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the men’s singles semifinals before falling to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev on Friday afternoon.
On Sunday, Medvedev will seek to spoil Serbian sensation Novak Djokovic’s bid to be the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four Grand Slam titles in the same calendar year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2021.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
