Jessica Pegula, the American tennis ace, has been on the courts playing professional tennis since 2009. She has achieved a career-high ranking of World No.11 and was the quarterfinalist at this year’s Australian Open. After her second-round victory at the French Open, she addressed the matter of the influence of Victoria Azarenka on the WTA Players’ Council.

Pegula on Thursday secured her position in the round of 32 at Roland Garros after a three set victory over Ukranian Tennis professional, Anhelina Kalinina.

Jessica Pegula talks about Victoria Azarenka and her role in the Players’ Council’s decision

Recently, Ukrainian tennis ace Marta Kostyuk pointed a finger at the WTA Players’ Council’s fairness. She questioned Azarenka’s presence in the decision-making process of Wimbledon being stripped off ranking points. The former World no.1, Azarenka is a Belarusian, and  therefore, her participation in the council irked Kostyuk. When Pegula was asked to pitch in on the matter, she said, “I mean, Vika is one voice and I forget how many people are on the council. But yeah, so I mean it’s not just her, there’s a lot of other people.”

“At the beginning not everybody wanted, that wasn’t like what we all wanted, we all were like, No, this is crazy. And you know, conversations progressed. I think people realized what we thought we should do collectively and we all have to come together and make an agreement pretty much on the same terms,” she added.

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Thereafter, she stated, “Vika is one person out of a lot of people and I’m pretty outspoken. There’s a lot of us that aren’t afraid to step up. She’s not the one that makes final decisions. I think we all have to come together to do that.”

Who is Pegula’s doubles partner?

Jessica Pegula is playing alongside 18-year-old American tennis professional Coco Gauff in the doubles category. Earlier this year, the 28-year-old joined Gauff to compete in the hard courts of Dubai and Qatar. The partnership was successful as they managed a quarterfinal run in the Dubai international championship and lifted the trophy at Qatar Open. Thereafter, they took part in the doubles of Stuttgart Open and made it up to the last round.

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Currently, the pair is gearing up for the second round at the French Open after their straight sets victory in the first round.