THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2023

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for Jessica Pegula.

Jessica, tell us about how your preparations have been going so far.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, it's been great. I came from Eastbourne, had a couple days of practice here already that went really well. I feel like I'm hitting the ball very well. Definitely feel more comfortable on the grass this year I think than previous years.

I'm excited about that, but still need to actually have results for that to happen. Hopefully I can pull everything together in the next couple weeks.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What for you is the biggest thing that relates to the comfort on the grass that you just mentioned? Is it about footing? Is it about...

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I think a lot of it, I hurt my knee on grass, I don't know, five years ago, whenever I had my knee surgery. I think I got a little skeptic about moving on it. I think always for the first week I feel very, I don't know, unstable or something. It's a weird feeling. I think that's always a little bit in the back of my head.

Then also I haven't played, like, that much on it. I feel like I always get so used to it when it's over. I just haven't had a ton of experience. Even in juniors, I didn't play junior Wimbledon. I didn't play anything. I just don't have that, I guess, experience on it maybe that other players do.

So, yeah, I guess those are just a couple of reasons probably why.

Q. There's been a lot of talk recently because of who has won the recent majors of a big three. What goes through your mind when you hear that? What do you make of that trio and the rest of the field?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I'm not in the big three, I don't think (smiling).

No, I mean, I think it's true. With the results that they've had, they have kind of shown they are the ones to beat, and I think have been consistently swapping titles with each other or making finals and going deep.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's exciting. I'm glad that women's tennis can have something to talk about along the lines of having the top three.

Yeah, I guess we'll see. I mean, Iga dominated so much last year, and obviously Aryna and Rybakina have had a great last few years. It's crazy just to think the big three dominated for a really long time. I don't know how long those girls are going to be able to dominate. For 10 years? I don't know.

I think it's exciting to have something for us to talk about and for fans to get involved in and hopefully be excited to watch them battle it out. But I hope I'm part of that conversation at some point. I guess that's all I have to say.

Q. The Netflix crew were following Mirra Andreeva in qualifying last week. Have you been enjoying the attention this year because they've been following you as well?

JESSICA PEGULA: No, I don't really particularly like it (smiling). I've actually decided, yeah, they're filming me here a little bit and in the U.S. But, like, I think mentally I had to make a commitment because I don't really like people following me.

Yeah, it's just weird. Hopefully I'll get used to it. I think I've gotten to know them a little bit more, which helps. It's nothing against the crew, I'm just not used to having, like, cameras follow me.

Yeah, I think it's something, like, I wanted to do, but also if I'm going to do it, I want to commit full-time, okay, yes, you can film everything and stuff like that.

As long as I'm in that mindset, then I don't mind at all. I think it was just more me committing to actually doing it. Yeah, we'll see.

Q. What was the point at which you decided that? In Australia you were enthusiastic about the idea.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, it was actually really funny. I was talking to this guy that my husband and I friends with. He plays in the EuroLeague. He plays for Milan. They actually just won. I was asking him about it. He's a basketball player, sorry.

He was like, Why wouldn't you do it? That is so cool.

He went on this whole passionate speech.

I was like, I think you just convinced me.

I feel like he kind of convinced me, to look back, to always have that that I can go back to and see that I did it, whether it's for me or my family or my kids or whatever, I think that kind of pushed me to do it more.

Q. Can I ask your thoughts and reaction about Anett Kontaveit's career ending, her career and her as a person as well.

JESSICA PEGULA: I actually don't know her super well. She's always been very sweet to me, very friendly, very nice in the small interactions that we've had.

I think it's tough to see someone, like, who is obviously very young, reached a career high, had that amazing run, was it a few years ago now I think, into the finals and winning all those titles.

I mean, yeah, getting to 2 in the world is amazing. I don't know, it just sucks. It sucks to see someone do that. I hope at least it was like I think she feels comfortable with the decision. Hopefully she can have a last good tournament here and kind of go out and enjoy the next chapter of her life.

I think sometimes we forget about what's after tennis. There's usually a lot more after tennis. So, yeah, I hope she just enjoys that and has fun, looks forward to that.

Q. I wanted to ask you, as someone who has been in leadership positions in the sport, the council, your thoughts on the possibility of going to Saudi Arabia or having some kind of relationship between the tour and that country, a place that obviously has a ton of money and also has serious questions about its record on human rights, women's rights, LGBTQ rights. Sounds from what Steve Simon said yesterday it's being seriously considered. I was just curious what you thought about that possibility.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, it's tough because, like you said, there's obviously issues there. I also think there's issues in a lot of countries. Sometimes things don't get talked about as well.

But, yeah, I think they're, like, kind of not a threat, but they're there, right? Especially through the PGA, I think we saw what happened when you didn't want to work with them. They have infinite amounts of money where they can just do whatever they want anyways.

So to me, I definitely don't think I'm against doing something just because I think that they're going to do what they want anyways. The PGA kind of went through a rough patch, then they decided to do something with them. A lot of the players felt really blindsided by it. I don't think we want to get to that point. I don't think we want to repeat what they just did.

Hopefully we can kind of learn from that situation as far as whatever relationship we have with them. I trust Steve obviously to make the right decision on what he feels is best for the WTA. I think we all do on the council.

I'm sure we'll talk and go about it. Especially, I mean, if they could help getting us to equal prize money, even though there are negatives, I think there's a lot of positives that can come out of it as well.

Hopefully, yeah, we don't just look at the negative and we can see the positives. Yeah, hopefully something good comes out of it the right way.

Q. On the subject of equal prize money, we heard the announcement this past week about this pathway by '27, certain tournaments by '33, other tournaments... I wanted to get your thoughts on is the thought process that you're in like, it's about darn time, or why do we have to keep waiting another decade to get there? It does obviously represent a step in the right direction. I'm wondering how you mesh those thoughts?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I think it's one of those things where clearly the market, the TV, they're not paying us the same as the men. It's just not there. So I think this is just a way where we can initiate that, right, initiate what we think we should be getting paid, which would help with prize money and stuff like that, especially at tournaments.

I think it's great, first of all. I think it's a step in the right direction. I mean, people like to complain about it now, but then they were also complaining when we weren't doing anything. Everyone just tends to complain about everything, which I understand. It's frustrating.

But I think if you look at it that way, it's something different. Hopefully it works.

I think we're basically making an investment in our sport that we can get there. I think that is the right decision for us right now. Hopefully we can get on that path to more equal prize money because that is something that needs to change.

If no one else is going to change it, then I think it's up to us to start that conversation and investing that time and money into ourselves. I think that's kind of the route that we took. Hopefully it works. Hopefully we can get a better product, as well, for all of us.

We have so many great, amazing players on tour, so many great story lines that just need to be told more. I think that will really help us build our product and our brand, then hopefully the rest will come.

Q. What are your thoughts on Venus taking the court, Centre Court, age 43, five-time champion? She's not saying what her future is, but what would you like to see happen with her?

JESSICA PEGULA: I think she should just do whatever she wants. Clearly that's what she's doing now. She wants to play. I think it's amazing. It's incredible that she's still competing and playing well and winning matches at this age.

She's an icon of our sport. I think for her to still be out there just shows her passion and how much she loves to compete and play. I think it's amazing.

Yeah, I don't know. I have no idea what direction she's going with all of it or what is in her mind. I think she kind of always just did what she wanted her way anyway.

To me it's all very Venus, the Williams sisters. They kind of forged their own paths. To me, yeah, it just kind of shows that she's still Venus and she's still going to do what she wants. If she wants to play, that's what she's going to do.

But, yeah, it's crazy that she's still playing very well and competing. I know she loves the grass, so I'm sure that helps.