US OPEN

August 30, 2025

Leylah Fernandez

Venus Williams

Press Conference

FERNANDEZ-WILLIAMS/Eikeri-Hozumi

7-6, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Ladies, congratulations. Moving on. Questions.

Q. Leylah, when Hailey Baptiste was playing doubles with Venus in D.C., she said she could feel Venus' killer instinct on the court. Can you feel that as well? And have you come up with a team win?

LEYLAH FERNANDEZ: Well, for the first question, yes, I definitely do see the killer instincts. I love that. That kind of brought up my energy too, seeing and hearing, seeing what Venus is doing on court. It's so incredible. So, yeah, killer instinct is still there.

Regarding the team name, I don't think we've got one. I'm not that creative. I'll leave that up to everybody else.

Q. You're a new team, but something is going on. How would you describe what you have going together right now? Both of you.

LEYLAH FERNANDEZ: You want to go?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think we both have very aggressive games. We're looking to move forward, we're looking to control the point, I think we have very similar mindset, similar attitude.

So I think we're, like, on this wavelength that makes it easy for us to really move in the same direction.

LEYLAH FERNANDEZ: I agree with that 100%. You know, I feel like we kind of don't really need to stay much on court, and it just kind of flows. That's what I like, that we don't need to talk as much, plan so many things.

You know, when I cross, I know Venus is, like, behind me moving to the other corner; when she crosses, I'm going to go to the other corner. Just kind of like a nice harmony dynamic.

Q. Leylah, congratulations, both of you. There's clearly lots of chemistry and fun the two of you are having at the moment. I know it's early days, but have you discussed possibly taking this outside of here to the next tournament, Australian Open perhaps? I know Venus has said you didn't want to travel, but...

VENUS WILLIAMS: If she can get me on the road, definitely. I don't know what can get me out there. I love Asia, I love Australia, I love all those places. It's about it's just so far away.

Where are you playing next?

LEYLAH FERNANDEZ: I don't know actually. (Laughter.) It's so far away.

VENUS WILLIAMS: We need some internal talk first.

Q. Venus, congratulations. Phenomenal. When a player a couple days ago said Taylor Townsend had no education, I thought of you. I think you went to Indiana and got your accounting degree, I think, I believe. What were your thoughts about that comment? And also, your thoughts about Taylor.

VENUS WILLIAMS: My thoughts about it? It was a lot of drama. It was a lot of drama. I thought Taylor handled it amazing. I really did.

I just thought with her as a mom how she handled it, her son will be watching. Her son is watching. She handled it with class, a situation that was not so classy (smiling). Just moved on and won again.

So she's handling it amazing. I'm rooting for her. She's a wonderful person, a great mom. I hope she can keep going.

Q. Venus, a big sort of blockbuster fourth-round match in singles is between Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka, both of whom are players who have directly cited you and your sister, Serena, as inspirations for why they're playing tennis at all. What's it mean to you when you see those sorts of players are more and more common, going deeper in tournaments? A clear echo of what you and your family did in the sport on this kind of stage.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I honestly don't think of it that way. When I see those matches, I think how exciting it is for tennis, like everyone will be watching.

That's what tennis needs. So I guess if at some point I was a part of that equation, amazing, but now, like, they're flying.