Jessica Pegula Is Learning to Use Her Claws

Jessica Pegula strode into Wimbledon’s cavernous interview room, bucket hat perched on her head, and stared on the empty room. When she realized that there have been no media members there to ask her about her second-round win over Cristina Bucsa, Pegula chuckled, received up and walked out.

Pegula is rarely solely shocked when consideration is diverted away from her. Though ranked No. 3 on the earth, the best amongst American ladies, and the champion on the Canadian Open two weeks in the past, Pegula, 29, has by no means superior to the semifinals in singles at a Grand Slam match. She is 0-6 in quarterfinal appearances on the majors, together with at this 12 months’s Australian Open and Wimbledon. The United States Open, the place she misplaced to Iga Swiatek in a good two-setter final 12 months, is her ultimate probability this season.

At 5-foot-7, Pegula doesn’t have a thunderous serve, like Aryna Sabalenka. And she doesn’t possess flashy actions just like the No. 1 Swiatek. Pegula can even flutter emotionally, as when she let a 4-1 lead slip within the third set towards the eventual Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova. Instead, it’s her consistency that units her aside.

“Her ball-striking is really, really good,” mentioned David Witt, her coach since 2019. “If I were to think of a player who hits this clean it would be [former No. 1] Lindsay Davenport.”

Pegula’s recreation is sturdy and dependable. She has a large wingspan and hits with great energy off the forehand and backhand. Because of her doubles success with Coco Gauff, she has grow to be a more-than-competent volleyer.

She additionally studiously avoids the histrionics that a lot of her compatriots get entangled in.

“I’m pretty chill, pretty laid-back,” mentioned Pegula in an interview throughout Wimbledon in July. “It takes a lot to get me going emotionally, excited or upset. Maybe that’s good for the U.S. Open, because I’m able to stay well-balanced.”

For Pegula, the Open is a combined bag. A Buffalo native (her mother and father personal the Buffalo Bills of the N.F.L. and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League), she likes the fan assist in New York however struggles with the mayhem.

“I feel like the Open is really hot and crowded,” mentioned Pegula, who didn’t qualify 4 instances on the Open earlier than reaching the third spherical in 2020. “Everything is kind of against you. There’s so much going on. You’re usually really hyped up, and it’s kind of like you’re running on fumes. There’s just so much energy, and it can be really fun, but it can also zap a lot out of you. It’s something you have to learn how to balance.”

Balance is especially necessary for Pegula, who weathered career-threatening knee and hip accidents that saved her out of the U.S. Open a decade in the past, after which she confronted the emotional turmoil of her mom’s coronary heart assault final June.

Jimmy Arias, a former high 5 participant who has labored with Pegula, as soon as tried to impress upon her that there have been two forms of opponents: a lion and a rat. Pegula, together with her fearsome floor strokes, has lengthy been a lion. What she wanted to undertake was the rat half.

“In a nuclear explosion, a rat is the only animal to survive,” Arias mentioned. “J.P. had the weapons of a lion, but she needed the mentality of the rat. She had to learn how to dig, claw and scratch her way out. Now, when she’s in trouble, she can find her way out of a point.”

Pegula understands that; it’s simply the execution that may be tough.

“I’m doing everything to put myself in a good position,” she mentioned. “It’s just a little more belief in myself in the later stages of tournaments and being more aggressive in the bigger moments.”

And if she doesn’t break by means of and win a serious, will she really feel unfulfilled?

“If I had to stop tomorrow, I think I’d be pretty satisfied,” she mentioned. “I got to have this amazing career, proved a lot to myself and to a lot of other people. Obviously, there’s more that I want to do, but I’ve gotten through the really tough parts and a lot of really big lows. To come out of that has been a win in itself.”