Jessica Pegula Is Peaking Just in Time for the WTA Finals

She is eager to develop skills that could translate into a role with her family’s sports franchises after her tennis career is finished. She said she has learned to feel at home outside her comfort zone.

“Player council, I was really nervous,” she said. “I didn’t know if I knew enough, but I felt that if I was afraid to do it, then I should probably do it. I like to put myself out there and learn through different experiences. At one point, I’m probably going to have to say no, but I like saying yes, and my mom always told me to say yes and to do a lot of things and put yourself in different situations too.”

Her agenda will be packed again this week. Pegula has qualified in singles and in doubles with Coco Gauff, her 18-year-old compatriot. Pegula and Gauff, who is ranked No. 4 in singles, are the only competitors playing both events in Fort Worth.

Pegula and Gauff each extol the benefits of playing both events regularly on tour for fine-tuning their games and lifting some of the pressure from the singles result. They have teamed up to win three doubles titles in 2022, also reaching the French Open final.

Asked for one word that summed up her partner, Gauff thought for a while before settling on “resilient.”

That rings true despite Pegula’s privileged upbringing, which alleviated concerns about the training and traveling costs that pose obstacles for many other tennis talents.

“It doesn’t matter how much money you have,” Witt said. “It’s something inside that drives you to want to win. A lot of people probably say, she doesn’t have to play tennis, but what would somebody do to satisfy that competitiveness if they didn’t play a sport or challenge themselves with something? I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there that would have never thought in a million years that Jessica would be top 10 or top five. But they don’t know her as a person. They don’t know how hard she works.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/sports/tennis/jessica-pegula-wta-finals.html