Jessica Pegula already appears to have big plans for her new role on the WTA Tour.
Pegula is the fifth best women’s tennis player in the world, but she also has a key role on the WTA Tour.
There have been a lot of player complaints about the current tennis schedule, and as a result the new WTA Architecture Council was announced last month.
Pegula is the president of this council, and after her first win at Indian Wells she has stated her priority in her position.
Jessica Pegula states that her priority is to improve the tennis calendar
Pegula fought back to beat Donna Vekic 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, and after the match she was asked about her goals for the Architecture Council.
In her response, Pegula praised new WTA chairwoman Valerie Camillo, but stated that the tour as a collective need to get better at making quicker changes going forward, as she targeted prioritising the calendar in 2027.
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“Yeah, I mean, the goal is to try and prioritize the schedule in the calendar for next year,” Pegula said in her post-match press conference. “As soon as next year, hopefully.
“I think our goal is just to problem-solve and to try and figure out some ways to do it. I think Valerie has done a really good job as far as just getting tons of feedback from a lot of players, us included. And just kind of throwing a lot of ideas and seeing where there are some areas where we can quickly change.
“I think that’s something that within the WTA we have had to get better at is changing things quicker and not taking years and years for things to kind of evolve.
“So she’s really shown that initiative very quickly just by forming the architecture council. And I think also it kind of shows that she wants to make change because I think she’s putting it out there, putting pressure on herself, like, hey, I have made this council, this is priority, this is our goal, if we don’t get this done, it doesn’t necessarily look great.
“So I actually kind of like that she’s been very out front with it, just, hey, this is what we’re going to do, this is our goal. We’re getting asked about it a ton in press, and we’re going to try and hopefully make some changes to make everyone’s lives a little bit easier, I think, hopefully by next year in the calendar.”
Jessica Pegula reveals what her role on the architecture council entails
When continuing to be questioned about the Architecture Council, Pegula admitted that her role has not actually changed too much from the WTA Player Council that she was originally on.
“It’s myself, Maria Sakkari, and Victoria Azarenka,” Pegula responded when asked about the roles within the council. “We were taken from player council as part of the tour architecture. I was kind of named, what, the chair or something? I don’t know. I was given a fancy name.
“I’m really not doing much more than I was already doing. I think it was just more prioritizing, naming kind of a top player.
“I’m also on council as someone that hopefully myself can help bridge the gap between the players and the tournaments, as well. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
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Pegula was then asked if she thinks the new council will be able to make real change in the future, to which she appeared confident about.
The former US Open finalist answered, “No, I agree, and I think that’s why I’m interested and I’m happy to be part of it and to be a voice, but I like that Val has kind of put it out there as a very big initiative for her, as far as she just got here on tour and I do think this is something she really wants to see change, because again, I also think it comes back a lot to her putting pressure on herself to get it done, because I think if she’s able to, that says a lot about her coming in just as far as she just got here a couple months ago.
“I think that would be a big win for her amongst the players. I think it would be a big win for player council members who are working hard to get this done and be the voice of the players.
“You’re right. I think it’s fun to talk about it now, but, you know, if there is no action, then it’s kind of pointless, but hopefully we don’t get to that point.”
Pegula will put her duties on the architecture council to one side for now, as she looks ahead to her next match at Indian Wells against Jelena Ostapenko.
This will be a sixth meeting between the two players, with Pegula leading the head-to-head against Ostapenko 3-2.
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