Jessica Pegula aims to end year on high at 'groundbreaking' WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia

American has sealed place in season-ending tournament for third year in row despite injury-hit campaign

Jessica Pegula is currently ranked No 4 in the world. EPA

Jessica Pegula has qualified for the WTA Finals for the third consecutive season – a remarkable feat considering she was ranked just No 30 in the Race to Riyadh back in June, coming off of a rib injury that sidelined her for the entire European clay season.

As one of the most consistent players on the women’s tour since the start of 2022, Pegula began this season feeling burnt out and she missed the Middle East swing in February – which included WTA 1000 events in Doha and Dubai – with neck problems.

When she returned to action in March, she sustained a rib injury that kept her out for two months and forced her to miss the 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome. Instead of rushing herself to come back, she took the decision to skip the French Open and got back on tour for the grass season.

“You start panicking. You're like, I can't play. I can't do anything. And with my injury as well, it was very strictly a lot of rest. I was having trouble breathing and sleeping,” Pegula told The National in an interview during the Wuhan Open last week.

Pegula won her second tournament back, on the lawns of Berlin, but suffered early exits in her next three events, which included Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics.

No one could have imagined what was to come next.

The American caught fire in August and went on a 15-2 run, winning the WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto, placing runner-up at the 1000 in Cincinnati, and reaching her first Grand Slam singles final at the US Open; all in the span of five weeks.

Her sole two defeats during that stretch both came against Aryna Sabalenka and she concluded the US Open at No 5 in the Race to the WTA Finals and back to her career-high No 3 in the world rankings.

‘Stages of grief’

Pegula lost in two close sets to Sabalenka in New York and it was a tough pill to swallow. Her initial reaction was just being upset about losing the match, and not necessarily the idea of missing out on winning her first major.

But in the week that followed, Pegula said she experienced all sorts of emotions. “I felt like I went through a lot of different stages of grief,” said the Buffalo native.

“I was upset about the match, then I was kind of like, ‘Oh, wow. I could have won a Grand Slam’. And then that sunk in.

“And then it went to being more angry, like frustrated. And then it kind of went to, ‘OK, well now I know all the things that I want to work on’. So I felt like it came in different stages for the following week.”

The tennis schedule is unforgiving, and it rarely gives you a chance to celebrate victories or dwell on losses.

Pegula had one week to acknowledge everything she had achieved in the previous month and a half; then she had to pack her bags and head to Asia in order to secure her place in the WTA Finals (only the top eight in the Race qualify).

“I was still pretty motivated to get back out there,” she said.

Appreciating the moment

Pegula doesn’t feel like her life has changed after playing the US Open final, but it was a cherished experience, made all the more special by the fact Arthur Ashe Stadium was packed with A-list celebrities from the world of sport, entertainment and beyond.

Before the final, NBA superstar Stephen Curry had a chat with Pegula during her warm-up and was animatedly cheering for her from his seat right behind the baseline throughout her clash with Sabalenka.

Formula One icon Lewis Hamilton was there with Olympic champion Noah Lyles and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Courteney Cox, Emily Blunt, Claire Danes, Tina Fey, Zayn Malik, and many more … the US Open was the place to be that weekend and Pegula admits it was “cool” to be part of it.

“It lets you live in the present a little bit and appreciate how really cool it is, and how big it is, and how it seems like it's growing,” said Pegula.

“You doing so well those couple weeks and it gives you the chance to open up other doors and meet other people that you, maybe, watched on TV, or you went and saw their concert, or you watched play a different sport. It helps you stay in the present and understand that you achieved something really, really cool.”

Pegula turned 30 in February this year, and she admittedly had a “mini freakout” about it, especially that she was dealing with injuries at the time.

“Even though people are playing for years and years after they turn 30, you treasure the time that you can play a little bit more than when you're 20,” she said.

“I maybe mini freaked out a little bit, although I don't feel 30, I definitely feel like I'm maybe 25, so I have that going for me,” she added with a laugh.

The average age of professional tennis players has increased over the past decade, mostly thanks to the advancement of sports medicine and equipment technology, and we’ve seen the likes of Roger Federer and Serena Williams hang up their racquets in their 40s.

Williams and many other women have taken a break from the sport to have a child and experienced lots of success on the court after returning to tennis from maternity leave.

Pegula, who got married to Taylor Gahagen in 2021, does not plan on following that trajectory though.

“I admire the women that have and I think it's great, but when I'm done, I'm definitely not going to come back with a baby,” said Pegula. “I don't see that happening at all. I'm pretty decisive with things that I know what I want, and I think that's one of them.

“I don't think I have a timeline [for retirement], but there's definitely a lot of other things I would love to be able to do and not be 40 years old when I'm doing them,” added the world No 4.

Owning her decisions

Age has come with a great deal of maturity for Pegula, who continues to learn from her experiences on tour, which includes having to make tough decisions regarding her career.

In February, she parted ways with her coach of five years David Witt and shortly after, announced she was hiring Mark Knowles and Mark Merklein.

She could have played Roland Garros after recovering from her rib injury, but opted out and saved herself for the Olympics and the North American hard-court swing instead.

“I just planned it and decided this is where I want to peak, and I'm just going to have to prioritise that right now. And that really paid off,” said Pegula.

“You have to be in charge of your own decisions and your team and what you feel is right. I know as tennis players, we can get so caught up in, ‘Oh, but I could still play next week, and what if I do well?’

“And you have this mentality sometimes where you just go with that for weeks and weeks and weeks, or maybe someone's telling you otherwise. ‘Oh, but you play well here you should just keep playing. You got to fight through it’.

“And sometimes it's just not the case. And eventually, it'll always catch up with you.”

Pegula isn’t the only top player grappling with such decisions.

Sabalenka skipped Wimbledon this year with a shoulder injury. Ons Jabeur opted out of the Olympics and couldn’t play the US Open, ending her season prematurely in early August.

World No 1 Iga Swiatek missed the entire Asian swing and will head to the WTA Finals in Riyadh next month (November 2-9), having not played a match since September 4, when she lost to Pegula in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.

The Polish five-time major champion also recently announced she had split with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski after a trophy-laden three years of working together. Elena Rybakina has also been MIA since the US Open.

“For Iga, obviously, she's had an incredible year, won the French again, went to Olympics [where she won bronze in singles]. That took a lot out of a lot of people,” said Pegula.

“And she's probably just prioritising a little bit on resetting and also finding a new coach, that takes time and you don't want to rush through those things.”

Riyadh will be ‘groundbreaking’

For Pegula, her focus is now firmly fixed on the season-ending championships in Riyadh, which will mark the largest sanctioned professional tennis event to be hosted in Saudi Arabia.

Pegula reached the final in last year’s edition of the tournament, which took place in difficult stormy conditions in Cancun, after defeating the world’s No 1, No 3 and No 4 en route. She lost easily to Swiatek in the title decider.

“I want to do well there. I want to give myself a good chance to get in and back up my results from last year,” said Pegula of the upcoming WTA Finals.

“To be able to do well against the group of the best players in the world, to me, is even harder than winning a 1000 or something like that. So you have to be ready to go, and that'll just be another challenge that I would love to be able to get through.”

This will be the first of a three-year stay for the Finals in Riyadh. The tournament had been in search of a stable home since the pandemic disrupted the previous 10-year deal that was in place with Shenzhen.

After getting cancelled in 2020, the WTA Finals moved around from Guadalajara to Fort Worth to Cancun, with the last two editions drawing lots of criticism from players and fans, due to last-minute planning and unfavourable conditions.

Pegula, who is a member of the WTA Player Council, believes now that a multiyear deal has been struck with Riyadh, the Finals will become a better experience.

“We've had much more prep time. So I'm assuming it'll be better,” said the American. “Hopefully we get some fan turnout. I know it might be tough there as well, but hopefully we can.

“I know it was kind of a controversial stance, but at the same time, it's also groundbreaking in so many ways, and hopefully we can just keep growing that narrative.

“And I know that they've been doing a lot with local tennis camps and different things, and just trying to spread the word and give different girls chances and show them these professional athletes that don't really get the chance to play in their region very often.

“And I know how important that is for creating future players, and future stars, or just changing someone's career or changing someone's life, and I think that's really, really important. So in that aspect, it's going to be pretty eye-opening.”