Jessica Pegula admits what she got wrong about her own tennis which she discovered at the US Open

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Jessica Pegula managed to prove herself wrong after reaching the US Open final in 2024.

Pegula lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open final in 2024, in her first ever appearance in a Grand Slam final.

The American has been unable to reach another major final since, but Pegula did win the Dubai Tennis Championships at her most recent tournament.

As Pegula confirms herself as a Grand Slam contender going forward, she has now admitted that she made a mistake at the US Open two years ago.

Jessica Pegula pinpoints the moment when she felt like a top WTA player

Pegula is the current world number five, and has been ranked inside the top 10 since June 2022, which to many would make her clearly a top player in women’s tennis.

Despite this, Pegula has admitted the doubts she had about herself before reaching the 2024 US Open final, and she has now realised that she does not need to play as many tournaments as she once did.

“I think maybe — I think, I don’t know, it’s hard to say if I could pinpoint,” Pegula responded in her post-match press conference. “I think that when I came, I had a rib fracture the year I missed the French Open and then went on to have a really good run in the summer, made finals of the US Open.

“I think that run definitely helped me a lot as far as solidifying myself as a top player, because I was someone who was so used to having to play a lot of matches, where I felt like if I wasn’t really playing, that I was really falling behind and I wasn’t quite sure not playing for two or three months if I was able to come back right at that level.

“Being able to kind of prove myself wrong a little bit in that swing, and, you know, miss a big chunk of the year and come out and play just behind Aryna, have the best hard court season of the year, I think gave myself a lot of confidence that I’m a really good player, and I don’t necessarily need the matches or even just like putting in, because I was hurt, tons of hours on the court to really prove that’s where my confidence was coming from.

“Because I think a lot of my confidence was coming from me just working really hard and playing lots of matches and getting lots of wins, which is great, but it doesn’t always work like that obviously.

“So I would say that kind of swing, yeah, I think it proved myself wrong a little bit, and now I feel like I don’t have to train as much, I can train a lot smarter, I kind of am more efficient with what I need to work on, and I don’t get anxiety or anxious about not putting in that time and feeling like I still can’t go out there and play good tennis.”

Jessica Pegula explains why she thinks she has struggled at Indian Wells in the past

While Pegula has achieved the best Grand Slam result of her career at the US Open, she has not found success at all American hard court tournaments, including Indian Wells.

In her seven main draw appearances at Indian Wells, with Pegula making her debut in 2012 at just 18 years old, she has only won eight of her 15 matches.

Pegula had her best run at Indian Wells in 2021, when she reached the quarterfinals before losing to Victoria Azarenka.

When Pegula was asked about why she thinks she has not found much joy at Indian Wells so far in her career, she admitted that she has found the changing conditions difficult to adapt to, but appeared confident that her record could improve this year.

“It’s always been really tough for me here,” said Pegula. “I never feel like I play good tennis. I think I had one good year I made quarters, but yeah, it’s always been tough.

“I think it’s one of the tougher tournaments, honestly, to win because of how drastic the conditions can change from morning to night, windy, cold, hot, dry. It’s very wide variety, and I think you have to be able to adapt really well.

“But I do think that this year I feel a little bit better with my game as far as being able to adapt and have a couple more tools in the toolbox to help me combat those types of conditions.

“So yeah, I think this year I’m kind of looking forward to the challenge of seeing if I can get over that hump a little bit here and see how far I can go. Obviously it’s going to be tough. I have a pretty tough section. Day by day, again, the conditions change, things change a lot here. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Pegula mentioned that she is involved in a tough section of the draw, with Belinda Bencic, Elise Mertens and Jelena Ostapenko all in her quarter.

Before she can face any of them, Pegula has an opening match against either rising teenager Tereza Valentova or Olympic silver medallist Donna Vekic.