Jessica Pegula looked over her loved ones in the stands and fought back tears. With her emotional comeback victory, the US tennis player with the unusual life story fulfilled her “childhood dream” of reaching the final of the US Open.
“The title would mean the world to me,” enthused the 30-year-old after losing 1:6, 6:4, 6:2 to Czech Karolina Muchova in the semifinals, addressing her family. “I’m so happy that I can share this moment with them.”
Sitting in the seats in New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, his husband, brother and sister were cheering in their box, as was his father Terrence from a box. The 73-year-old has made his billion-dollar fortune in oil and gas, is one of the 400 richest people in the world according to Forbes magazine, and, together with his wife Kim, owns a sports empire with the NFL team Buffalo Bills and the NHL team Buffalo Sabres, which also includes the German ice hockey star Jason Peterka plays..
Fighting public scepticism
Pegula’s supporters had to wait a long time on the way to the final against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated American Emma Navarro 6:3, 7:6 (7:2) in the first semi-final. On her own serve, the world number six was already 1:6, 0:2 and 30:40 behind, but fought her way back into the now high-class game and turned the match around.
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Pegula has had to fight against public scepticism in her career because of her family’s wealth. When the Times wrote in 2023, after her Wimbledon exit in the round of eight, that Pegula needed a dynamic that her billions couldn’t buy, she hit back that she definitely wouldn’t buy the article. She captioned her post on social media with a trash can emoji.
Pegula doesn’t fit the classic clichés. During the US Open, she posted a video on Instagram of herself riding the subway to the venue in the Queens district. What upsets her most? “That people think I have a butler, that I’m being chauffeured around, that I have a private limousine,” she said during the tournament. “That’s definitely not who I am.”
The fans in New York love her either way. A factor that her opponent in the final also takes into account in her preparation. In last year’s final, Sabalenka lost her first US Open title against crowd favorite Gauff after winning the first set – partly because the crowd unnerved her. And now, after a stable start, she also wobbled in the final phase against Navarro, who was cheered on frenetically.
“Last year was a very hard experience, a very hard lesson. I said to myself today: No, no, no, Aryna,” the Belarusian reported after her match. “It won’t happen again. You have to control your emotions.”
And so Sabalenka continued her charm offensive after reaching the final. “Now you’re cheering for me, that’s a bit late,” she said jokingly to the cheering fans after the victory. “Even though you were cheering her on, I had goosebumps, it was an incredible atmosphere.”
At the end, she tried to win the audience over to her side with a lure offer and announced over the stadium microphone: “Margaritas for everyone”.
