Leylah Fernandez looks to hard courts to turn around trying season

Leylah Fernandez says a trying season of injuries and losses has tested her mental fortitude.

She expects to come through it as the tennis calendar shifts to the hard courts.

"This season has been a lot more downs than ups," Fernandez said. "I'm just happy that I have the right team around me, the right people around me to bring me back down to earth, not think of the worst-possible situation.

"I actually feel a lot better now that I'm back home, started training, took a couple of days off, and just feeling physically ready, mentally prepared."

Fernandez, ranked 25th in the world, has won five career WTA titles — all on hard courts — but is 12-19 in singles this season following a 1-4 run on grass, including last month's first-round exit at Wimbledon.

The 23-year-old from Laval, Que., said she dealt with "a couple of physical problems" earlier this season and struggled to recover once the losses began piling up.

"That played into the confidence in my game when wins weren't coming in," she said in an interview from Miami on Thursday. "I guess there's just a domino effect from the beginning to now. But again, I've gone through some tough moments in my career and I've always come out on top at the end."

Fernandez preferred to keep her physical issues a secret for now, saying only that it could make for "an interesting story" once she's ready to share details.

Leylah Fernandez's Wimbledon tune-up ends with Round of 16 loss in Germany

The five-foot-six lefty was working through a similar slump last year when she suddenly opened the hard-court season with a D.C. Open victory, rattling off wins over women's stars Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina en route to the biggest title of her career.

Fernandez was scheduled to fly to