Leylah Fernandez admitted she had to decline a doubles request from Venus Williams for the Australian Open because she was already committed with another partner. Fernandez, the No. 9 seed at the Credit One Charleston Open, first paired with Williams at the 2025 US Open and the two reunited at the Miami Open last week.

The Canadian described the difficulty of saying no to a former world No. 1 and 14-time Grand Slam doubles champion and explained how the pair kept in touch after their initial partnership. She also recounted a tough third-set tiebreak loss in Miami and the encouragement Williams offered afterward.

Q. And I just wanted to ask about the experience of playing doubles with Venus again, Miami, hadn’t played together since the US Open, how that came together again and what it was like to be back on the court with her?

LEYLAH FERNANDEZ: Yeah. With Venus we kind of kept in contact after the US Open. We were hoping to play — well, she asked me to play in Australia, but unfortunately I was already committed with Timea [Babos], so that was it. And then I did ask if she was going to the Middle East, but she wasn’t.

So, we were kind of figuring out the perfect time to play together, and Indian Wells and Miami was the two tournaments where we could play, and unfortunately, Indian Wells didn’t happen, but there was Miami Open, and it was a lot of fun. She’s a great mentor. I mean, in the last tiebreak, the third set tiebreaker, we were up and we lost it, and I remember I had like a couple of easy shots, easy volleys, and I missed, and I was really heartbroken at the end of the match because I was like really wanted to end the day with a win. And she told me, you know, like I played great, just to keep going, keep forward. If we all had a time machine, we would use it, but we don’t, so just keep moving forward.

So with that quote, that definitely helped me to kind of recharge and look at the bright side and just keep working the next day and find ways to improve.

Q. I know Timea was a great doubles player, but how tough was it to say no to Venus Williams, though?

LEYLAH FERNANDEZ: Yeah. There’s no disrespect to Timea. She’s an amazing doubles player. She’s had an amazing career. But it was so hard to say no to Venus because, again, she has like that big sister energy. I never want to disappoint my siblings, and saying no to them is so hard. And when her coach messaged me, I was like, oh, no! It’s two days too late! I couldn’t do it. But they understood and, again, we still kept in contact. We tried to find the perfect moment to play together.

Fernandez framed the decision as one made out of prior obligation, and she emphasized the value of the mentorship she receives when partnering with Williams.

Iva Jovic arrived at the Credit One Charleston Open as an 18-year-old still refining parts of her game that have powered a swift climb up the rankings. After sliding through an opening-round victory, the Serbian-American was blunt about how much more she believes she can reach.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know what clay was until I was 13,” she said, recalling a late introduction to the surface after growing up in Southern California. Jovic has leaned into that learning curve as the tour turns to clay. “I’ve just been doing movement drills every single day, right?” Jovic said. “So, I haven’t really played a ton on clay in my life, but when it’s clay season, I’m working on my movement every single day.

“So, it’s improved rapidly because of just the volume of movement that I’ve been doing. There’s no secret there. You just gotta do the drills.”

Her rise over the past year has been dramatic. A year ago she was ranked No. 150 and playing a smaller WTA event in Bogota. Since then she won a WTA 500 title in Guadalajara last fall and reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in January, a run that helped her make her Top 20 debut earlier this season. She is currently listed at world No. 16.

“I don’t feel that I’m close to maximizing myself yet,” she said, acknowledging both the progress and the work ahead. Jovic frequently cites Novak Djokovic among her idols and compares elements of her developing style to players such as Belinda Bencic, Jessica Pegula and potential third-round opponent Bianca Andreescu.

She also offered a clear sense of process and self-scrutiny. “I think a lot of tennis players, we’re very stubborn and can be a little bit extreme because we’re just perfectionists, right, and tennis is one of those sports where it’s physically impossible to be perfect and to not miss.

“I try to identify who am I as a player, what is my game style, and then you just build around that. And I try to just emulate certain people, think about players that have been extremely successful in this sport and what do they have that I don’t have—someone who plays similar to you, but maybe you don’t have all those little fine tunes that they have.”

Against Alycia Parks, whom she faced in Bogota a year ago, Jovic highlighted tactical adjustments after a straight-sets win, and described areas she will continue to sharpen.

Dayana Yastremska confirmed a short-term coaching trial with Alexandra Stevenson after her second-round exit at the Credit One Charleston Open. Observers noticed Stevenson working with Yastremska during the week; the pairing stems from Pam Shriver’s newly launched Yonex Mindset Performance Program, which introduced the two.

Shriver announced the YMPP at the start of 2026. The program has already been used by Donna Vekic, whom Shriver helped through a career peak that included a Wimbledon semifinal and Olympic silver medal. Vekic was also linked to the program this week in Charleston as Shriver was seen in the stands for the qualifier’s first-round win over Ajla Tomljanovic.

Yastremska, herself a powerful baseliner, described how the trial came about after meetings in Indian Wells and training in Miami. “In Indian Wells, Pam suggested that I try with Alexandra and that she could bring me some experience and help to my game,” Yastremska told me after a three-set defeat to Belinda Bencic on Wednesday. “I came to Miami and before the Miami Open, we trained together.

“She’s currently working with a junior player and she’s under contract with her until the end of the year. So, I don’t know how it’s going to go in the future. Maybe she’ll be able to help me some weeks. We still need to discuss all of that. We will see how the schedule will be made, so I cannot say anything about it. But I did enjoy this week and the days before the tournament, practicing with her and getting experience.”

Yastremska said she still needs to discuss details with Shriver. “I need to have some conversations with Pam tonight,” she told me. “Today, she had to be on the neutral side because Belinda is also from Yonex. I feel like they’re really invested in their job of helping players. They’re trying to bring all the experience and all they’ve learned on their life journeys to explain and help us in some ways. It’s nice and interesting.”

Now 25, Yastremska has struggled for consistency since her breakthrough run to the 2024 Australian Open semifinals as a qualifier. She pushed Bencic hard in Charleston, rallying from a set and 4-2 down and nearly erasing a 4-1 deficit in the decider before bowing out in three sets.