Jessica Pegula reacts as two American players officially retire from tennis, ‘it’s always sad’

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Jessica Pegula is currently enjoying a break from competitive tennis after another busy season on the WTA Tour.

Pegula finished her WTA Tour season at the WTA Finals earlier this month, reaching the semifinals in Riyadh.

Elena Rybakina knocked Pegula out of the WTA Finals, with the former then going on to beat Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

Pegula will end the year sixth in the rankings, with her 2025 season involving titles at Bad Homburg, Charleston and Austin.

Jessica Pegula reacts after Chris Eubanks and Lauren Davis retire from tennis

The American star will return to the WTA Tour in 2026, but one player who won’t be making an appearance after her retirement is Lauren Davis.

She has called time on her fantastic career, as has her compatriot Chris Eubanks, with Pegula saying of the retirements on The Player’s Box Podcast: “Congrats to them. We are going to miss them.

“They are both very nice people, always in a good mood. I feel they are always smiling and always happy, both of them.

“I am happy for both of them, but it’s always sad when they post and it’s so weird, you see them posting when they were kids and starting off.

“They had this dream and then being able to do that and reach that, it’s so cool to see them happily moving on.

“I feel like I respect players even more, especially even more like Chris, where I think sometimes fans get this perception that if you are not winning all these Grand Slams and all these tournaments that your career was a failure.

“I feel there is a little bit of that narrative. But you look at when he posted all the stuff that he did and I’m like, he had an incredible career.

“He did not think that was even possible. He was like I am just going to come out of college and going to play.

“Now he has set himself to go into TV, which he is really good at, and I think it’s almost cooler when you see someone that was like I have accomplished everything I came out to accomplish.

“He said that there is nothing left for me to do, I did what I wanted to do. And that is okay. You don’t have to win a Slam, or become top 10 or do all these things. Sometimes people don’t want that. They have goals and hit them and then are ready to move on.”

Lauren Davis and Chris Eubanks must be celebrated after successful careers

Davis and Eubanks should, of course, be celebrated for what they achieved on the court as opposed to what they didn’t.

It certainly isn’t easy to make it in the sport, never mind enjoy the fine careers that the two American aces did.

Davis won two titles on the WTA Tour, with the former world number 26 falling just short of 400 match wins.

Eubanks meanwhile once reached 29th in the ATP Tour rankings, claiming his only career title at Mallorca in 2023.