Jessica Pegula Issues Bold Message as Osaka and Anisimova’s Struggles Reveal Rising Threat

Back in 2021, Naomi Osaka decided to opt out of the French Open as she was suffering from “long bouts of depression.” The following year, she decided to delete her social media after she received online scrutiny for her fashion magazine cover. “I just deleted Twitter, I deleted Instagram, and I was like, you know these aren’t real people,” said the Japanese as she put her mental well-being first over the loud opinions. Similarly, in May 2023, Amanda Anisimova made a similar revelation about her struggles with mental health and burnout since the summer of 2022. Following that, the American even took a break from tennis.  

However, while some players find a way to open up about their mental health battles, others fail to express their real issues. But, seeing stars like Naomi Osaka, Amanda Anisimova, and Bianca Andreescu sharing their personal struggles, American star Jessica Pegula took a moment to praise her peers.

On July 30, American tennis star Jessica Pegula appeared in an interview with Omnium Banque National. During the segment, she was asked to share her thoughts on how online trolls can affect someone’s mental well-being. While addressing this issue, Pegula said, “So, now all of a sudden there’s a whole other element that’s gone into being a pro athlete where you’re online all the time. So it’s changed completely. We’ve seen that with girls like Amanda Anisimova, with Naomi Osaka, with Bianca (Andreescu) that aren’t afraid to say, ‘Hey, I’m…this is too much.‘”

In that same video, Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka, and Amanda Anisimova also shared their thoughts. Osaka admitted that she mostly takes news from social media and doesn’t use her account much. The Japanese star claimed that she doesn’t look at anything related to tennis.

However, Amanda Anismova stated that, “Sometimes I’ll like delete the apps entirely because I’ll have like the habit of going on and like not knowing what I’ll experience.” But having said that, she also claimed that other than the hate messages, she also gets quite a few positive messages as well. So, that’s something she tries to put more focus on these days.

On the other hand, according to Pegula, mental health means just growing as a person. In September 2024, she openly discussed her mental health journey, highlighting the challenges of balancing professional tennis with personal life and the importance of self-trust and emotional regulation.

Her sole advice was, “I think it’s just once you kind of let all those emotions out, I think resetting is — you have to kind of just reset. I would say if that’s either on court or off the court, I mean, let yourself be sad, let yourself be upset, let yourself be emotional and all those things.” Pegula said it’s more about resetting things a bit after letting these get out. 

Interestingly, she also shared her coping mechanism with her fandom and suggested the ways to deal with the pressure both on and off the court.

Jessica Pegula’s mantra of dealing with pressure

Being one of the top favourites comes with a lot of stress and pressure mentally. But, Pegula just knows the right way to control her emotions when competing at the highest level. Hence, last year, when she qualified for the home grand slam, she mentioned, “I think have you to kind of keep going. So I think it’s healthy. You don’t have to fake it. You just have to let yourself feel whatever you need to feel and then kind of just let it go and move on to the present situation.”

Pegula is carrying the same sentiment this year too, as she looks forward to the US Open. Currently ranked fourth in the world, Jessica Pegula has already won three titles this season. But having said that, the American has also failed to reach a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 final this year. She currently has a win-loss record of 35-14, and if we take a look at her performances in the majors this season, Pegula was knocked out of the AO in the third round, and then it was followed by a fourth-round exit at the French Open. However, at Wimbledon, she was defeated in the first round itself.

So, it has been a season full of ups and downs for the American. But now, she has a good chance of getting some wins under her belt before the 2025 US Open. Jessica Pegula has won the Canadian Open in each of the past two years. Last year, she defeated Amanda Anisimova by 6-3,2-6,6-1 in the final. 

“Everyone is, like, ‘Oh, three-peat, three-peat.’ That’s a long way away, but yeah, I’m hoping that I can kind of find some magic here in Canada that I’ve been able to kind of summon over the last few years. Hopefully, play some good tennis,” said Jessica Pegula. She will be facing the former world number 3, Maria Sakkari, in her first match. Can she complete the three-peat this time?