"Leylah Fernandez looks like a mess with these braids"; "It looks so painful" - Fans amused by Canadian's hair during her US Open 1R loss

Leylah Fernandez suffered a first-round exit at the 2024 US Open this week, going out in three sets to Russia's Anastasia Potapova on Tuesday (August 27). While the Canadian's form lately is concerning, her new hairstyle was more surprising to tennis fans.

23rd-seeded Fernandez led her unseeded opponent Potapova by a set before her collapse, dropping the match 6-2, 4-6, 5-7. With her loss, the 21-year-old has three back-to-back defeats on the WTA Tour.

Leylah Fernandez debuted a new hairstyle during her opener at Flushing Meadows, making a tight braid out of her hair into a ponytail. The look, however, perplexed many tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter).

Most felt the 21-year-old's hair was too thin to pull off the look. One even suggested that it was perhaps best that she lost early at the US Open, as it meant that fans were spared of seeing the hair-do again.

"She still looks a mess with these braids. Need her to lose just for that," the fan wrote.

Another fan, meanwhile, wondered whether it was painful for Fernandez to make her braids.

"It looks so painful," they wrote.

Here are a few more reactions from fans who commented on Fernandez's new hairstyle:

"If you don’t have dense hair you should not be doing this shit cus why can I see ur whole scalp like," one fan wrote.

"WHAT IS IT THE BRAIDS?!?!?!" another fan exclaimed.

"Her hair is gonna fall out," a fan claimed.

"Lend me a pair of scissors," another fan joked.

"Yeah doesn’t look good when the hair isn’t thick enough to cover the scalp," one fan asserted.

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Leylah Fernandez has lost 19 of her 41 matches this year

Leylah Fernandez

Leylah Fernandez went on a giant-killing run at the US Open three years ago, downing the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka en route to a runner-up finish. The young Canadian has failed to back up her run since then, much to the disappointment of the tennis universe.

The 21-year-old ended her 2023 season on a high note, guiding Canada to their first-ever BJK Cup title. However, her 2024 season has been relatively underwhelming as she has accumulated a mediocre 22-19 win/loss record on the WTA Tour.

Fernandez's best results include reaching the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open and the final of the Rothesay International. She will be keen on righting the ship during this year's indoor hardcourt swing.