Jessica Pegula: Game Plan
Pegula has reached the final four in Flushing Meadows each of the last two seasons. But before that, she was 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals. How did she help snap the skid?
Part of the solution was remaining calm and resisting frustration, one of the cerebral American’s best qualities.
“If you’re trying to execute a game plan and you’re executing it and it’s just not working, I think you have to switch it up and go for feel,” Pegula tells us. “I think you kind of have to gauge that.”
Before her victory over Iga Swiatek in the 2024 US Open quarterfinals, Pegula was 3-6 against the pesky Pole. They met again this past summer, in the Bad Homburg final—where Pegula again prevailed in straight sets.
In discussing head-to-head matchups—even lopsided ones—Pegula noted that you must embrace the battle.
“I acknowledge it—I don’t like to not know,” says Pegula of H2Hs. “I think you always know the players you play well, and maybe don’t play well against. I try to take it as a challenge, especially if it’s someone I don’t have a good head-to-head against.”
👉 Stream the full episode of Matchup Mindset with Jessica Pegula here, on the Tennis Channel app.
