Teen Tennis Star Leylah Fernandez Follows Path Osaka, Williams Paved
Teenage tennis star Leylah Fernandez, who quickly became a fan favorite during her run to the U.S. Open final last fall, has agreed to a multi-year partnership with Youth Athletes United, the parent company behind youth sports franchises Soccer Stars, Amazing Athletes, TGA Premier Sports and JumpBunch.
Fernandez will create co-branded tennis and fitness clinics and classes, serving as the first-ever ambassador for the brand and adding to her budding endorsement portfolio. In the aftermath of her U.S. Open success last year, the breakout 19-year-old inked an endorsement deal with Canadian carrier Flair Airlines. She announced a partnership with Canadian apparel company Lululemon just before the 2022 Australian Open, and also has deals with Asics, Babolat, telecommunications company Telcel and cosmetics company Birchbox.
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For Fernandez, the Youth Athletes United deal is about signaling her business intentions as much as it is about sports.
“I always had dreams, not only in tennis, but [about] what I can do with tennis: I want to make a difference in the younger generation, I want to help people … and I want to build my brand around that,” Fernandez said in an interview.
Her partnership with Youth Athletes United will focus specifically on TGA Premier Sports, one of the country’s largest recreational and youth tennis and golf franchisors, and multi-sport operator Amazing Athletes. TGA Premier Sports, which has franchises across the U.S., Canada and Spain, was acquired by Youth Athletes United in November as the parent company continues to expand its share of the $19 billion youth sports market.
Through the deal, Fernandez, who is of Ecuadorian and Filipino descent, also hopes to increase the number of free tennis programs in communities that do not have access to the sport. Her branded programs will be multilingual and won’t be limited to tennis lessons; they will include soccer and general training and fitness programs. Fernandez’s father and coach, Jorge, is a former professional soccer player.
Adam Geisler, CEO of Youth Athletes United, declined to disclose specifics of Fernandez’s deal but said she is “invested both in time and effort long-term.”
While Fernandez followed in the footsteps of fellow Canadian tennis pros and Flair ambassadors Felix Auger Aliassime, 21, and Eugenie Bouchard, 27, with her airline deal, she points to sponsorship tycoons like Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams as the inspiration behind her broader business approach.
“When I started playing tennis, my role model was always [former Belgian tennis player] Justine Henin, but then as I started learning a little bit more about the business. I started looking at Billie Jean King—how she was able to impact the sport—and Serena and Venus Williams, how they’ve impacted not only the sport but the business side, as well,” Fernandez said in an interview. “Then you see Naomi Osaka doing the exact same thing: pushing their beliefs into tennis, [knowing] what they want to achieve with their platform and speaking their minds. I still have a lot to learn, but just seeing how they’ve succeeded in business and in tennis is a great example.”
Faces like Osaka and Fernandez have come into the spotlight at an opportune time. The sport has always had international staying power, but endorsement opportunities have long been dominated by the Williams sisters. As both Serena and Venus begin to make way for a new generation of tennis talent, there is an opening in the tennis sponsorship world for other young stars. And while Osaka, now the world’s highest-paid female athlete with more than $50 million in endorsement earnings, may be the heir-apparent, there appears to be plenty of room for others to join her.
Fernandez hopes to capitalize on her newfound fame and popular appeal, just as Osaka did when she was thrust into the spotlight following her first Grand Slam win in 2018 and as Fernandez’s fellow teenage U.S. Open finalist (and eventual champion) Emma Raducanu has also done. The British Raducanu has already added British Airways, Evian, Tiffany’s and Dior to her portfolio, alongside Nike and Wilson.
Fernandez said she sees her tennis success as the key to opening the door to opportunities beyond her sport—opportunities she hopes will continue. “I don’t want to disclose too much, but I don’t want to only be known as a tennis player, because I’m not only a tennis player,” she said.
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