THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 3, 2023

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

J. PEGULA/L. Davis

6-2, 6-7, 6-3

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

Jessica, quite a battle out there today. Talk us through.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, definitely a tough match. I think Lauren is a good grass court player. Obviously she's had great results here before, beating Kerber a few years ago.

I think she kind of likes my balls. Hit kind of flat so it stays low for her, especially on the grass. I knew it was going to be tough. Yeah, had chances in the second, but at least I was able to close it out in the third.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you like to start with a hard match or... Always that question.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, when you win. When you lose, no (smiling).

When you win, yes, I think you definitely kind of get all the nerves out. Everything possible can kind of happen. I think grass that can happen very easily with the serve, bounces, a lot of three sets, a lot of 6-All, a lot of tiebreaks, or one-break type of matches.

Yeah, I mean, to get through that one, it was really great I think for the first round.

Q. Playing another American today, Venus plays later, there's another all American match, where you thought American women's tennis is right now?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, no, American women's tennis is great. I think we've had the depth for a few years right now. I think the men have finally caught up, to be honest (smiling).

The women have had the depth for a while as far as depth throughout the top 100. Maddie just won Eastbourne. She's always a threat, especially on grass with her serve. Coco. Sonya trying to work her way back to her form. Amanda Anisimova is taking a break, but we've seen her go deep in slams, for sure.

It's great. I think it takes the pressure off. We're not the stand-alone American with all the pressure. Yeah, it's great to have a lot of people to train with, practice with, and warm up with. We all know each other very well and have a great relationship with each other.

So, yeah, I think it's great for American tennis. Hopefully it will inspire more people to play.

Q. How did you tell yourself to stabilize at the start of the third set, you missed the match points, missed four points on serve...

JESSICA PEGULA: It's tough to stabilize. I got broken. Had chances. She played a couple incredible points. It was very windy, so it was hard to really feel like you could get any momentum going because then you'd have the wind gusting. It would kind of keep you off balance and unstable.

I don't know. Actually I think what kind of snapped me out of it was, like, I was down 30-Love, I challenged, and the ball looked like it was significantly out, where the umpire overruled it, it was in. I got kind of pissed. I don't know, I think kind of like kind of pissed. For me being pissed is not that bad, but it got me kind of a little bit like, Okay, I need to get it together right now. I just got broken. It's 30-Love.

I was able to break that game, hold, take control of the match. I don't know, I was able to find a little moment there where I was able to get myself going a little bit just for the fact that I was a little annoyed with that point, that circumstance.

Q. I'm sure you had gotten used to penciling you into the very late stages of these Grand Slams, then Paris happened. How did you sort of experience that? Did that take a little bit to get over or did you wake up the next day, short memory?

JESSICA PEGULA: Paris I was not in a great place, to be honest. I was not. I was won the first two matches, two tough matches. But Alize is very tough. I think she's a tough matchup for me.

I wasn't really -- I wouldn't say I was surprised that I lost, but to me it was a tough match. The wind was really tough that day. Had my chances. It was just kind of one of those.

I think mentally I was not in a great space at the French. It was a long trip in Europe. I probably maybe, looking back, would have done it differently. I had a couple little nagging injuries, then I got food poisoning. I think my mindset was just terrible, to be honest.

When Alize came out playing really well, it was a tough match. I still gave myself chances, but it wasn't enough.

I wasn't that upset that I lost. Honestly, I think I was surprised that I even won the first two rounds, to be honest, against two tough opponents.

Yeah, it wasn't really anything for me. To be honest, at that point I just wanted to go home and kind of reset and get myself back to a baseline.

Q. When you're a young player, and you're trying to make it, is it an advantage or disadvantage if your parents were players or involved in tennis or not do you think? Some players make it one way, some players don't.

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. It's tough. For me, to be honest, I think my parents were, like, too involved. They kind of did things differently. Looking back, obviously it worked out. I don't know. I think I maybe would have went, played more, some things a little bit differently.

At the same time you see parents maybe not giving enough guidance. I think my parents always gave me somewhat of guidance, especially my mom. I think as I got older, I was making more my own decisions. I think that's important.

It can go both ways. I think it depends on the personality between the parents and the kids. At the same time I think there's always like that one parent that maybe went too far. At the same time would you be there if they didn't push you? For me, that was always my dad. We did not get along with tennis stuff. We butted heads a lot. We sometimes butt heads over comments that he says.

When I look back, if I didn't have someone that really pushed me like that, I don't think I would have been where I am today.

Luckily my parents were kind of yin and yang, I kind of had that balance. I think it just depends. I think at a certain point you have to get to that maturity point where you say, I need help or I'm going to make my own decisions.

It really is case-by-case basis.

Q. I was thinking more if your parents had been tennis players, for example, they knew how difficult it was to make it.

JESSICA PEGULA: My parents had no idea (smiling).

Q. It's interesting both ways.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I would think that if they were players, that would be helpful because they know what you're going through. Because even I, there's people that I know, their daughters are younger playing tennis, they're freaking out. I'm like, Relax, she's 12, she's good, she'll be fine.

I think maybe that more mentality would probably I would think help, as long as it's not like they were putting too much pressure on the person. Again, it just depends on the relationship really.

Q. How would you describe the learning curve on grass and your feeling today versus when you played a couple years ago on grass?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I definitely feel like I'm playing much better on grass. I feel like I'm more open-minded to how to play on it.

I think it's slowed down a little bit, so it's changed in that aspect, where I remember when I first played on it when I was pretty young, it seemed much faster to me. I don't know.

I think it's true because now we don't see players serve and volleying every single point, right? So I think it has slowed down. Also having that mindset that it's changed a little bit, and realizing that, being open to it.

I think before I was kind of just like annoyed that it was too slow and nothing that I was doing was working out now like it used to, et cetera, et cetera.

I think, yeah, my mindset has changed a little bit on it in a good way, though, to play better. My footing feels a little bit better this year than in past years, which I think is important. You have to feel like you can move on it.

So yeah, I don't know why. I think I'm a better player as well, so I'm more adaptable.

Q. You mentioned about the depth of American women, the top hundred. Do you sort of push each other? Do you share tips on how to make that breakthrough?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I think some of us do. Yeah, for sure. I feel like I always root for the Americans. I was excited when Lauren started off the year really well and had a great run and won the tournament in Hobart, I think.

I'm always, like, looking at the draws and seeing how they're doing, yeah, taking note of it. I think we all try to motivate each other, the women and the men.

Yeah, even like I was texting Maddie the other day. She was asking me how the courts were playing, because she wasn't here. Little stuff like that. I played on Centre. We kind of all openly talk. Yeah, Centre in Eastbourne, it seemed like it was playing a lot slower than this court I played on. Little stuff.

I think we're always trying to help each other out. I think whenever you're, especially top 50, you're all pushing each other because you're all seeing each other do well and have good results. Even in that aspect, even if you're not saying it, you're always pushing each other to be better.