NEW YORK—Jessica Pegula played in front of a star-studded crowd for her first Grand Slam final, but got one extra-special interaction before taking on Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 US Open.
The No. 6 seed began by sharing her pre-match interaction with the Steph Curry, whom she first met earlier this summer at the Olympics, before pivoting into a truly hilarious story involving her husband Taylor Gahagen:
Q. What was it was like getting to speak with Steph Curry before the match started?
JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, being able to stalk to Steph, that was really cool. I met him kind of briefly at the Olympics during the opening ceremony and we traded pins. But yeah, it was cool for him to come out. I guess he really wants to kind of keep supporting women’s sports and get really into it. It was really fun to meet him and also his wife.
Funny story, my husband, his iPhone name is Steph Curry because he loves Steph Curry. If you connect to bluetooth or send him something or AirDrop, it’s Steph Curry’s iPhone. So, I kind of left early and he texted me and he was so excited, he didn’t want to say anything. I was like, Please, tell me you did not tell him about the iPhone thing. He’s like, Oh, yeah, I did. (Laughter.)
I thought that was really cute. He was like, No, he loved it. I was like, Did he? Or did he really think you were kind of crazy? I guess he thought it was pretty funny. He was like, Oh, you’ve got to show my wife that.
That was kind of a cool moment for him because he’s a diehard Steph Curry fan, and I think I actually first watched him at a NCAA tournament in Buffalo. He always says he’s an OG fan, so that was really cool.
