US Open 2021: Teenager Leylah Fernandez upsets Angelique Kerber

Leylah Fernandez is a self-described “happy-go-lucky girl” having the time of her life at Flushing Meadows, raising her fists, pumping her arms and riling up crowds while beating two past US Open champions to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. There's no time like the present for the teens in tennis: Also into the quarterfinals with a win Sunday was Carlos Alcaraz, an 18-year-old from Spain who became the youngest man to get that far at the U.S. Open since 1963 by outlasting his 32-year-old foe, 141st-ranked qualifier Peter Gojowczyk of Germany, 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0. The other is support of family, because her father, who is from Ecuador, her mother, who is Filipino Canadian, and her sisters “have definitely kept the joy for me.” She credits Dad — who coaches her and has been offering instructions in daily phone calls while back home, taking care of a younger sibling — and Mom — who is leading the cheers with other family members and Fernandez's fitness trainer in courtside seats — with teaching a valuable lesson that has nothing to do with tennis. They made sure to emphasize, Fernandez said, that "you can’t take things too seriously, you’ve got to be mature but at the same time just be a kid, let loose, have fun, eat chocolate when you want to, and just have fun, watch movies, go past your bedtime.” Just as against Osaka in Arthur Ashe Stadium two nights earlier, Fernandez dropped the opening set against Kerber in Louis Armstrong Stadium, which was so full that would-be spectators were being turned away at the doors.