During a difficult financial period for Leylah Fernandez’s family, her parents took jewelry and watches to a Montreal pawnshop to help finance tennis training and travel for her and her younger sister, Bianca. It was not easy, but it was done without hesitation.

“When you are asking your children to work hard and sacrifice, you have to show that you are willing to do the same thing,” Leylah’s father, Jorge Fernandez, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “We sold our house, I sold my business. These are the things you do to help your children reach their dreams.”