Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu Steal Some Grand Slam Spotlight
莱拉与艾玛窃取了大满贯赛事的目光
By Christopher Clarey
The New York Times 纽约时报
Sept. 10, 2021 1:57 p.m. ET
编按：这篇纽时的专栏内容讲到这两位选手的家庭、网球生平、强项等，算半个懒人包，
分享给大家。以下截取个人觉得有趣的片段，业余不负责翻译，请鞭小力点。全文请看连
结
https://tinyurl.com/3bjjedws
“I find it fascinating that literally the only way for the women’s draw to c
apture some focus away from Novak Djokovic chasing the most historic feat in t
ennis, the calendar-year Grand Slam, was to come up with something like a fair
y tale,” said Pam Shriver, once a surprise U.S. Open finalist herself at age
16. “With all due respect, it couldn’t have been the No. 2 player and No. 10
player facing off, but this story is almost like the perfect complement to Dj
okovic going for history.”
曾经以16岁之姿勇闯美网决赛的 Pam Shriver 表示：“我感到非常惊奇，女网赛事这次
以如此童话般的故事，吸走了 Djokovic 追求历史纪录的焦点。老实说，世界第2对抗世
界第10大概无法达到这个目的。某个程度来说，这样的故事刚好完美配合 Djokovic 追求
历史的时机点。”
This will be the first all-teenage Grand Slam final since Serena Williams defe
ated Martina Hingis in 1999 at Flushing Meadows to win the first of her 23 maj
or singles titles.
这是 1999 年 Serena Williams 在法拉盛球场击败 Martina Hingis 以来，第一次再由
两位十几岁的球员展开大满贯决赛赛事。而 Serena Williams 也是在那场她的首个冠军
后，展开她的23个赛事冠军生涯。
But this is not quite the same teenage scene. Williams and Hingis were already
stars in 1999. Hingis was ranked No. 1 and seeded No. 1. Williams was seeded
No. 7 and had been making headlines and waves with her older sister Venus for
years.
但这场景并不完全相同。1999 年的决赛，Hingis 当时已经是世界第一，而且是该赛事第
一种子。Williams 则是第七种子，而且当时她与她姊姊 Venus 早已经占据了新闻头条并
受到关注多年。
Fernandez and Raducanu were familiar only to tennis cognoscenti before arrivin
g in New York. Fernandez is unseeded and ranked 73rd. Raducanu is ranked 150th
, which meant that she had to make it through qualifying just to reach the mai
n draw. Though she turned heads, particularly in Britain, by reaching the four
th round at Wimbledon in her Grand Slam singles debut this year, she seemed ov
erwhelmed by the moment and the physical challenge and was unable to finish th
at fourth-round match against Ajla Tomljanovic because she had trouble breathi
ng.
Fernandez 跟 Raducanu 在美网前则只在专业网球评论家的雷达里。之前Fernandez 排名
73，并非种子选手。Raducanu 排名150，她必须透过资格赛进到正式赛。虽然今年Raduca
nu的名气在温网崭露头角（尤其是在英国），但她因为换气困难的缘故，退出第四轮与 A
jla Tomlijanovic 的比赛。
But instead of that frightening experience holding her back, she has rebounded
beautifully and has yet to drop a set in New York: not in three qualifying ma
tches or her six main-draw matches against vastly more experienced players, in
cluding the new Olympic champion Belinda Bencic.
Raducanu is now the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam singles final, going
one round further than the likes of John McEnroe.
然而这样的恐怖经验并没有打败她，她在纽约表现精彩，三场资格赛及六场会内赛，包括
对今年新科奥运冠军 Belinda Bencic 的比赛，她未失一盘。
Raducanu 是史上第一位从资格赛打进大满贯单打决赛的球员。比 John McEnroe 还多挺
进一轮（John McEnroe在1977从资格赛打进温网4强）
“A surprise,” she said. “Yeah, honestly I just can’t believe it. A shock.
Crazy. All of the above. But it means a lot to be here in this situation. I wa
nted obviously to, like, be playing Grand Slams, but I didn’t know how soon t
hat would be. To be in a Grand Slam final at this stage of my career, I have n
o words.”
Raducanu 在半决赛赢球后的访问说道：“很惊讶，说真的我无法相信。这是个惊奇、这
一些都很疯狂。但这情况意义重大。我当然想要打大满贯，不久前我还不知道多久可以做
到。但现在在这个舞台上，我就要打大满贯决赛啦。我不知道该说什么。”
“I’m just having fun,” she said. “I’m trying to produce something for the
crowd to enjoy. I’m glad that whatever I’m doing on court, the fans are lov
ing it, and I’m loving it too. We’ll say it’s magical.”
Fernandez 则在打败大会第二种子 Sabalenka 后受访说道：“我就是在享受比赛，我就
是在尝试给观众一些享受。我很高兴粉丝们很爱我做的这一切，我也很爱这一切。这很惊
奇。”
The word applies to both players’ runs to the final, but their paths to this
rarefied moment have been both remarkably similar and remarkably different. Bo
th were born in Canada, but though Raducanu still holds a Canadian passport, s
he left with her parents to live in London when she was 2. Both also grew up i
n multicultural households. Raducanu’s father is Romanian; her mother is Chin
ese. Fernandez’s father, Jorge, also her coach, was born in Ecuador before im
migrating to Canada at age 4 with his parents, and Fernandez’s mother was bor
n in Canada to parents who immigrated from the Philippines.
（这里我就大概翻一下）
他们都挺进决赛，但两人的路程跟背景令人惊讶的相似又不同。他们两人都是在加拿大出
生。Raducanu 虽然还有加拿大护照，但在两岁开始就随着父母住在伦敦。两人都是在多
文化家庭中长大。Raducanu 的父亲是罗马尼亚人，母亲则是中国人。Fernandez 的父亲
兼教练是4岁就移民加拿大的厄瓜多尔人，妈妈则是菲律宾裔加拿大人。
But Fernandez’s family has had significant financial challenges and hardships
, with her mother leaving Canada to work in California for several years durin
g Fernandez’s youth to better support the family.
“Those few years have been definitely hard for me, because I needed a mom,”
Fernandez said. “I needed someone to be there for me through the age of 10 to
13. I’ve barely seen her at that time. Every time I saw her, it was like see
ing a stranger but at the same time someone so familiar.”
Though Tennis Canada has provided some support for Fernandez’s tennis, money
has often been tight, her father said.
但 Fernandez 一家其实一直面临经济上的困难与挑战。她妈妈在 Fernandez 还小的时候
为了生计，离家在加州工作多年。
Fernandez 提到：“那几年对我来说其实很痛苦，因为我需要妈妈。对于10到13岁的我来
说，我需要她在我身边。那时候每次我看她，就像是看到熟悉的陌生人。”（抱歉简译XD
）
她爸爸说虽然加拿大网球协会有给予一些帮助，但钱一直都很紧绷。
Fernandez said she also had faced many doubts in her early career about her po
tential. She remembered a teacher in Canada telling her to stop playing tennis
and just focus on her studies because she would “never make it.”
“Now I’m laughing,” she said. “I’m just glad that she told me that becaus
e every day I have that phrase in my head saying that I’m going to keep going
. I’m going to push through, and I’m going to prove to her everything that I
’ve dreamed of, I’m going to achieve.”
Fernandez 说她也面临过很多对她网球潜力的质疑，她回忆说曾经有个老师叫她专注在课
业上，不要再打网球，因为“你绝对做不到”
她说：“现在我可以笑了，我还是开心她跟我说这些话，这些话随时在砥砺我自己继续努
力。我会继续努力，向她证明我会达到我所梦想的一切。”
Raducanu, whose parents work in finance, does not appear to be fueled by a des
ire to quiet the skeptics and, unlike Fernandez, she was not firmly set on bei
ng a professional tennis player until recently.
“Maybe two years ago,” she said. “I always had my education as a backup. I
was doing it alongside my tennis. I had options. I still do, but obviously I’
m a hundred percent in my tennis now.”
Raducanu 则似乎没有这样要让存疑者闭嘴的动机。不像 Fernandez，她一直没有很确定
要成为个专业网球选手，直到最近。她说：“也许直到两年前，我一直保持学业上可以作
为自己的后路。但现在我百分之百确定我会在网球路上。”
Raducanu has been the more dominant force, dispatching opponents with powerful
precision, and is tied for second in the tournament in the percentage of retu
rn games won and percentage of service games won. Fernandez has had to scrap,
hustle and believe through four straight three setters. But Fernandez also has
had a tougher draw: defeating two former No. 1 players in Naomi Osaka and Ang
elique Kerber, the former WTA Finals champ Elina Svitolina and the imposing Sa
balenka.
Raducanu 有更好的比赛统御能力，用强而有力的精准度宰制对手。在赛事中，她的回球
局胜场百分比与发球局胜场百分比都并列赛事第二。Fernandez 则不得不连续四场比赛鏖
战三盘。但她的签表也比较艰巨：接连打败两名前世界第一，大阪直美与 Angelique Ker
ber，以及前 WTA 年终赛冠军得主 Elian Svitolina 和正火的 Sabalenka。
Fernandez’s ability to beat that many quality players in taut, tight matches
is a tribute to her resolve, adaptability and talent. She is a left-hander, an
d her serve, particularly her first serve, has been very effective. She has be
en selectively and effectively bold, hitting more return winners (22) than any
player in this Open. Sabalenka overwhelmed her early on Thursday but Fernande
z then adjusted to the pace and reeled her in, exchanging low baseline bolts a
t times and abruptly changing pace with drop shots at others.
Fernandez 的刚毅、适应性及潜力是她能够打败这些强有力对手的关键。她左手持拍，有
著非常有效率的发球（尤其是一发）赢球率。她的回球得分数是本次美网最多（22次）。
Sabalenka 在周四的比赛中虽然一开始给了她震撼弹，但 Fernandez 后来适应了节奏，
运用不时的变线跟突然的网前小球赢得比赛。