As a young girl, Leylah Fernandez first dreamed of becoming a soccer player, just like her father. But he had other ideas.
"I don't believe a child should go into a sport because her parents are in it," Jorge Fernandez said. "I want it to belong to her."
A little more than a decade after picking up a racquet, Fernandez, 19, has convincingly laid claim to tennis, preparing to compete in the U.S. Open semifinals, the most important match of her career to date.
She took New York by storm and by surprise, defeating defending champion Naomi Osaka and former world No.