“That was always my issue when I was younger is I couldn’t stay healthy…After my hip surgery, I definitely had kind of this, like, awakening moment where, one, rehab sucks and I was, like, ‘I cannot do this again. I have to do everything in my power to stay healthy, or else I’m never going to give myself a chance to go out there and compete.’
“So, I really reworked my fitness, my nutrition. It wasn’t that I was doing anything wrong before. I don’t think I was the most professional in the sense that I didn’t understand, like, all of the things I had to be doing or needed to be doing…Nowadays you see 13, 14-year-old girls. It’s still instilled. They have a whole team. They have a physio. They have rehab. They have programs. I don’t know. I missed that gap or window or whatever it was! I just didn’t realize how much more I could be doing.
“So, I definitely kind of had a rude awakening after that to be, like, okay, I really need to focus on this and invest in myself.”
That investment is paying off in New York, with Pegula eager for more positive returns as she’ll next face former world No. 2 Barbora Krecjikova, who saved eight match points to take out Taylor Townsend, 1-6, 7-6 (13), 6-3.
