TOMORROW, Sunday, the 2021 US Open finals at the Arthur Ashe Stadium will mark the first time after 22 years that two teenagers, both unseeded players, will duke it out for glory in a Grand Slam final and the chance to lift the US Open Singles tennis championship trophy.
Their names? Leylah Fernandez (Ecuadorean father, Filipina mother), a 19-year-old Fil-Canadian, and 18-year-old Emma Raducanu (Romanian father, Chinese mother).
There were many teenagers all over the world, whether men or women, who have won various Grand Slam championships in the Open era.
The likes of Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Mats Wilander of Sweden, Boris Becker of Germany, Michael Chang and Pete Sampras of the US, Rafael Nadal of Spain for men, have won various Grand Slam tournaments as teenagers.
There’s much more on the distaff side, with teenage champions Evonne Goolagong of Australia, Chris Evert, Tracy Austin and Serena Williams of the US, Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia, Steffi Graf of Germany, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, Monica Seles of Yugoslavia and also the US, Martina Hingis of Switzerland, Iva Majoli of Croatia, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, Bianca Andreescu of Canada and Iga Swiatek of Poland.
All of them won championships beating much older opponents, except for about two from the women’s side., namely Williams and Hingis.
The last time two teens faced each other in a final was back in 1999 when Serena Williams of the US and Martina Hingis of Switzerland fought each other for, ironically, the US Open.
Both Fernandez and Raducanu rocked the tennis world with their audacity to beat much higher-ranked players — and yes, older than them — that made them instant darlings of rabid followers of the sport.
There’s a lot at stake for both players. For Raducanu, if she wins the US Open, it will mark the first time a British woman will win a major woman’s tennis title, the last time being Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977.
For the world No. 86 player Fernandez, it will be a chance to prove a former teacher wrong, who said she won’t make it in the tennis world. But a big disadvantage for her is that her father-coach Jorge, won’t be there to watch her march to tennis victory.
Why so? Superstition.
Jorge claimed the last time he watched daughter Leylah in a tennis final, she lost. On Leylah’s game days, he uses the same shampoo and jeans, he said in an interview with Forbes.com.
He won’t take chances this time, he said. Now in New York, Jorge will watch the historic match on TV.
So which one will prevail, history or superstition?
No one knows. But one thing for sure: a teenager will win the 2021 US Open women’s tennis championship.