Jessica Pegula has been on a rollercoaster these past few months. She kicked off her grass season on a high with a win at Bad Homburg, only to crash out in the first round of Wimbledon. The North American Swing looked like the perfect shot at redemption, especially with the Citi Open in Washington, where she was chasing a third title. But her favorite stop on the tour didn’t bring much luck either, as she bowed out in the Round of 16. The Canadian Open was more of the same. Defending champion again, but out in the Round of 32. Yet, through the ups and downs, Pegula never seems to lose her cool. No shouts, no racket smashes, no wild celebrations. Always calm, cool and collected. As it turns out, that quiet composure has been years in the making.

Serena Williams’ former coach, Rick Macci, once summed it up best: “She does not get enough credit for her calming skills. Her mind is the greatest strength of Jess Peg.” But surprisingly, Pegula says her parents and coaches didn’t always see it that way.

In an interview with the Tennis Insider Club during her Cincinnati Open campaign, the 31-year-old revealed just how much pressure she once felt to act differently. She said, “It’s funny ’cause, when I was growing up, my parents or my coaches at the time never really liked my attitude. They’d say, ‘You look like you don’t care.’ So then I kind of got this complex, like they were trying to get me to be fired up and I’d be like, okay… but I can’t do that. I was trying to be something I wasn’t. And it just never worked. Now I get so many compliments like, ‘Oh, you’re so calm; I love your presence on the court.’”

It took her years to stop trying to force a personality that wasn’t hers. The American continued, “And I’m like—that’s funny—because my whole teenage years I was being told how to act, what to be, what to do. I had no idea what my personality was. Then one day I just thought: I don’t really care. I’m not gonna fake a fist pump. That’s a complete waste of energy to me. Getting super fired up—or even super mad—drains me. Sure, it’s fun to get the crowd going… but then I’m like, oh my god, I’m tired. It’s a different type of energy. And when I go super high, I crash.”

This mindset has carried her into Cincinnati, where she opened with a clean, straight-sets win over Kimberly Birrell. Now she is eyeing the third round against 31st seed Magda Linette. For Pegula, the tournament is also a stepping stone toward the US Open, where she was a finalist in 2024.

But while her focus is on the short term, she is clear about her long-term plans.

Jessica Pegula reveals retirement plans in candid interview

Jessica Pegula has already set her retirement date, and it all comes down to one thing: motherhood.

The 31-year-old, who got married to Taylor Gahagen in 2021, says she will hang up her racket once she becomes a mom. Gahagen spent nearly a decade working at her family’s sports and entertainment company, Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The couple hasn’t started a family yet, partly because Pegula is still fully committed to the tour.

“I think it’s, it’s a different talk because you know, if you wanna have kids and stuff like that, you can’t wait that long. And I definitely don’t wanna have kids and come back. I think when I have a kid, I’m, I’m done. I admire the women that do that, but I think whenever I have a kid, I’m definitely done,” she said in the aforementioned podcast.

That means no comeback stories for her. “So yeah, I wouldn’t come back. So that’s kind of why I say like, ‘Okay, maybe at least a couple more years, two, three, we’ll see. I think LA Olympics would be kind of a cool motivation, a cool goal, but like. At 35, I definitely don’t wanna be playing past that,” she added.

For now, Pegula is keeping her head down and her game steady. But she already knows exactly when it will be time to walk away. What she doesn’t know is how many trophies she will collect before then.