Currently at her career-best ranking and in fine form, the world No. 3 Jessica Pegula is heading to her home slam with conviction. The 32-year-old has never been shy about what she wants and stands for, and when she was asked who she would choose to coach her, she didn’t hesitate for a second. It was not the 23-time Grand Slam champion from her country, Serena Williams, or the most admired tennis players, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.
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“Novak Djokovic because he’s the greatest player of all time,” Pegula said in an interview with Jon Wertheim on Sports Illustrated. “But I just, I would love to know what goes through his head tactically throughout a match.”
“Serena just had her serve and she was so powerful. I don’t know what she’d be able to tell me, she’d be like, just hit an ace. And I’d be like, I can’t do that. I think Roger Federer was just so talented that everything just came naturally to him, and I think Nadal had that crazy physicality and competitive mindset. But I feel like Novak was very tactical, and I think that’s more related to my game style.”
The answer is quite revealing from a player who has built her entire career on just that kind of tactical patience, not on any single overwhelming weapon. Pegula first broke the top 100 barrier at the age of 25 and then had to wait for three years to earn her breakthrough season in 2022. She cracked the top 10 after reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open, and later that year she reached the quarterfinals of the US Open, which jumped her ranking to world No. 3.
Since then, the American has not dropped out of the top 10, and celebrated the milestone of spending 200 weeks consecutively in the top 10 in March. Her path has been an unusual one by tour standards, and she was candid about how those slower years shaped her.
“I didn’t do it until I was maybe 25 or older, and kind of worked my way up at an older age where, maybe, people usually are peaking,” she said. “It’s made me very grateful, and given me a good perspective. I don’t think I would have been able to handle myself as a top player as well as I have over the last few years if I didn’t quite go through a lot of growing up and experiences and maturity through a lot of my younger years.”
Pegula has 45 wins on the tour this season, which is the most by anyone. She has even reached five finals this season, again the most by anyone on the WTA Tour. Out of those five finals, she converted two of them into titles at Dubai and Charleston, a run that included defeating Elina Svitolina in the Dubai final for her fourth WTA 100 title. Her build-up to the US Open has been a remarkable one, reaching the finals of Citi Open, followed by the Cincinnati Open, where she lost to Coco Gauff in three sets.
She has already started her US Open campaign this year with the mixed doubles event. Initially, she was partnered with Jack Draper, but after the Brit withdrew, she paired up with Taylor Fritz, entering the draw as second seeds but fell in straight sets to Diana Shnaider and Casper Ruud in the round of 16.
Jessica Pegula is a leader off the court
Jessica Pegula’s impact this season has not been limited to the results on court. Those involved on both the players’ and tournament-management sides agree that she played a key role in the negotiations that culminated in the recent announcement of a 20 percent year-over-year increase in prize money and a new player welfare fund for the US Open. While giving the interview, she agreed that she is viewed as the tour’s “clubhouse leader” now.
“I’m very direct, and I think I’m very honest,” Pegula said of where that comes from. “I think I probably got it from my mom. She was pretty thoughtful in the way she always put things.”
When asked what is still enjoyable to her about the sport after all she’s done to get here, her reply came back to the same thing that led her to name Djokovic in the first place.
“I just love that it’s individual. Having to go out there on Arthur Ashe solo, just with you and your thoughts, I basically win or lose this match. That’s still the best part.”
Pegula now heads to the singles draw of the US Open as seeded third, with a genuine chance of dethroning Elena Rybakina for the world No. 2 position if she doesn’t recover from her leg injury. Can she turn her 79% season win rate, her best ever, into a first Grand Slam in New York?