–

MELBOURNE, Australia – Back in the spring of 2018, everyone already knew that 14-year-old Coco Gauff was going to be a thing.

And, as it turned out, she won the Roland Garros junior girls’ title that year.

But her opponent in the quarterfinals was an unknown, a 15-year-old Quebecer who had mostly bypassed the ITF junior circuit because of lack of funds, trying to break through and gain experience in the lowest levels of the ITF pro event ecosystem.

Gauff beat Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals of Fernandez’s Grand Slam junior debut.

Gauff went on to win the title. Here’s what they both said about it at the time.

Can-Am tussle in Paris goes to Gauff

The next year, 2019, Fernandez was the one who won the Roland Garros juniors and closed out her junior career.

Ships that pass in the night – for years

Fast forward, and you’d have figured that Fernandez and Gauff would have run into each other by now.

But it didn’t happen, for years and years.

Finally – more than 6 1/2 years after their last meeting, the two played at the United Cup in Perth. Gauff, whose U.S. team won the whole thing, beat her 6-3, 6-2 in their round-robin meeting.

And now, just a few weeks later, they meed again in the third round of the Australian Open.

Here’s Fernandez talking about that long ago first meeting (which, technically, wasn’t even the first if you count that epic 12-and-under encounter).

“Yeah, it was our first junior Slam that we played against each other, and only one, too. But I remember that match. It was a hard-fought match. I also remember that in her corner, her whole family was there and they were super loud. Then there was my corner, where I didn’t have many people and it was very quiet. It was an interesting contrast going on. I feel like so much has changed since back then till now,” Fernandez told Open Court.

Here’s what they looked like back then. It’s hard to imagine they were ever that young – even if they are still young.

Fernandez said it’s even harder to win matches now.

“I think it just actually gets harder because the players always look for that one per cent to get better. Sometimes it could be that one percent of being more flexible, or the speed of the ball. So it’s never really the same. And I think that’s what makes every player here on tour so dangerous because we always try to find ways to improve,” he said. “Back then, I think because we were also very immature and very young, we didn’t know about these things. We just had to trust our coaches, and we had to just play the game as is. But with the experience that we have now, as I said, the game is just getting harder and harder, and we’ve just got to improve with it.”

Here’s Fernandez talking about the difference between playing girls her own age and older women on the ITF circuit (in French).

Prepping with a teen

Prepping for her first-round match against Yuliia Starodubtseva (who was next on the court), a win with a six-hour break in the middle on the rainy first Sunday, Fernandez hit with a much-younger player – Iva Jovic, who has just turned 17.