Tennis star Leylah Fernandez urges athletes to become financially literate as soon as possible

Leylah Fernandez is nary mean 20-year-old. She is ranked among the apical tennis players successful the world. She's won 2 Women's Tennis Association titles and was a U.S. Open finalist successful 2021.

But Fernandez is besides making a sanction for herself disconnected the tribunal – and she's passionate astir financial literacy.

This week, Fernandez was successful New York arsenic Morgan Stanley and the WTA announced a new, multi-year global partnership. The programme fosters inclusivity and expands entree to the crippled of tennis. In addition, the concern volition see fiscal literacy and readying resources for players.

"Morgan Stanley's concern with the WTA is simply a large measurement guardant for women's sports successful general. I emotion to spot companies that enactment women's sports due to the fact that determination is truthful overmuch that we tin bash unneurotic and amended together," Fernandez, a marque ambassador for Morgan Stanley, told CNBC successful an interrogation Wednesday.

Fernandez said galore of her chap competitors interest astir having a career-ending wounded and not knowing what to do. The Morgan Stanley programme volition assistance hole them, she added.

"We're focused connected tennis our full lives. That's the lone happening that we know, but it's not thing we tin ever beryllium on. I privation to person that stability, that thought that everything is going to beryllium each close and we request to person those resources," she said.

Given her nexus to Morgan Stanley, Fernandez said she feels an added work to not lone inquire fiscal questions for her ain good, but to promote others connected circuit to person that aforesaid assurance arsenic well.

"It would beryllium large if we tin person conferences to unfastened the speech successful a steadfast situation wherever WTA players are comfy speaking their minds. I deliberation the trouble is we privation to beryllium perceived arsenic beardown and that we cognize everything, but we don't," she said to CNBC.

Morgan Stanley was drawn to Fernandez's enactment example.

"She is simply a relation exemplary that radical tin spot themselves in. She besides reflects our marque values, including giving backmost to the community, and valuing equity and inclusion," said Alice Milligan, Morgan Stanley's main selling officer.

In summation to Fernandez's engagement with Morgan Stanley, she has worked with Lululemon, Alphabet's Google and Subway. Fernandez said she's learned a batch from her acquisition successful the concern world.

"In the opening I was acrophobic to inquire questions due to the fact that I was disquieted it was dumb, oregon mode excessively simple, but asking questions is the astir important thing. I request to beryllium financially unchangeable successful beingness aft tennis, truthful being capable to enactment has opened my eyes and caput to a caller world," she told CNBC.

While traveling each implicit the satellite for tennis tournaments and climbing to a career-high ranking of 13 past summer, Fernandez, who hails from Canada, is making her acquisition a priority. She is majoring successful concern astatine Indiana University East, which has a concern with the WTA, on with the Women's Tennis Benefits Association, to let players to summation baccalaureate degrees online portion competing connected tour.

As for her aboriginal ambitions extracurricular of tennis, she said it is inactive precise early, but she wants to larn much astir concern and the banal market. She said moving with a Wall Street elephantine helps connected that front.

"I don't privation to marque immoderate drastic decisions truthful speedy without knowing each the details. That's wherefore it is truthful large that I americium moving with Morgan Stanley to assistance maine recognize that you can't conscionable enactment each your coins successful 1 stock," Fernandez said.