Pegula has also learned a lack of weaknesses has its perks, inspiring a late-career openness to improvisation.
“I’ve taken a lot of things that I’ve seen players like to do to me, and it makes me less predictable in my pattern,” she said. “It’s not even something I’m thinking about, but something I’ve been able to naturally do.
“I’ll think about the opposite side of the net and anticipating what players think I’m going to, and then do the opposite! That sounds simple, but it helps.”
The American’s 2026 entrée to clay was a veritable baptism by fire against a cadre of dirtballers, most of whom put Pegula on the brink of defeat. Her final match ended up being the easiest of all, a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the tournament’s Cinderella story, Yuliia Starodubtseva.
“It’s actually nice that I played much better today because I think I have a bit more confidence. In the other matches, I wasn’t feeling my best or playing my best tennis, so I think I’m going to build off what I can do better,” she told me. “Today at least shows I’m able to do some of the things better that I’d been doing in the previous matches this week. I’ll take that as positive momentum moving forward into my training.”
