Fortune, glass ceiling, shape of life… 5 things to know about Pegula, finalist in New York

She broke a glass ceiling

After six unsuccessful attempts in the quarterfinals (three times at the Australian Open, once at Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open), the Buffalo native, former number 1 in doubles (in 2023), has finally reached the last four of a Grand Slam tournament in singles. And in what style! Pegula thus outclassed world number 1 Iga Swiatek (6-2, 6-4). Freed and delivered from this weight, the rookie nevertheless had a false start against Karolina Muchova in the semifinals, before regaining her spirits and overthrowing the Czech (1-6, 6-4, 6-2).

At 30, she’s in the shape of her life

Although she has already reached the third place in the world (in October 2022), Pegula is playing her best tennis this summer. Unstoppable or almost. The current world number 6 (Editor’s note: she will be 3rd at the end of the tournament) has now won 14 of her last 16 matches. One of her rare recent defeats? In the final of the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati in mid-August, against… Sabalenka, her opponent of the day. Pegula has notably become the first player since a certain Serena Williams in 2013 to reach the finals of the Masters 1000 in Canada and Cincinnati in two consecutive weeks. It must be said that her formidable long backhand and her flat game are perfectly suited to the hard surface of the US Open. The summer hit, also at ease on grass, had started her summer harvest by winning a fifth title on the major circuit at the Berlin Open in June. Full of confidence and freshness. She had thus skipped the clay court season in the spring: ” I’m coming in a little fresher at this point in the season because I’ve been playing the whole clay court season, including Roland Garros. It was a good choice.”

A late hatching

Having turned professional in 2012, she played her first Grand Slam at the 2015 US Open where she came out of qualifying and reached 2^e tour. In 2018, she reached her first final on the circuit, at the Quebec Open and was stopped by the Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier. The following year, she won her first title at the Washington Open, beating Camila Giorgi in the final. Jessica Pegula entered the top 100 for the first time in 2019, the year she made her debut at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Then the patient American entered the world top 50 in 2021. And everything accelerated. Since then, the right-hander has won her first WTA 1000 title in Guadalajara, Mexico. She has two consecutive titles at the WTA 1000 in Canada and lost in the final of the 2023 Women’s Masters. All that remained was to finally perform in a Grand Slam. It has now been done.

Billionaire’s daughter

The American number 2 could (already) be taking it easy with her husband, Taylor Gahagen, married in October 2021. But Jessica dreamed of being a pro tennis player. She gave herself the means to achieve her dreams by working very hard. As a teenager, she turned her back on American universities and their scholarships to try her luck. A successful bet for this well-born child. Daughter of Terrence Pegula, an American billionaire whose fortune is estimated at $6.7 billion, (according to Forbes) through the extraction of natural gas. He owns with his wife Kim (an adopted South Korean) Sports and Entertainment, a company that owns the Buffalo Sabres ice hockey team (NHL) and the Buffalo Bills American football team (NFL) as well as clothing lines, restaurants, real estate, etc.

An entrepreneurial spirit

Jessica also seems to have inherited the entrepreneurial spirit. Granted, the family empire helped her along. In 2017, she and one of her four sisters teamed up to open an organic restaurant called The Healthy Scratch, located in a Buffalo sports complex… owned by their parents. The two sisters also launched Ready 24, a 100% natural skincare brand, and helped create a clothing line, One Buffalo, for sports teams also owned by their parents.