THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2025

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

E. COCCIARETTO/J. Pegula

6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously a tough day. What was going on?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. She played absolutely, like, incredible tennis. Do I think I played the best match ever? No, but I definitely don't think I was playing bad. It wasn't like I was playing that bad.

She just was, yeah, hitting her shots and going for it, serving big, serving high percentage, going big second serves, redirecting the ball. It was just her day I honestly think today, yeah.

Q. Would it be fair to say, based on what you were telling us a couple of days ago, that perhaps this sort of result is more likely to happen on this surface?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, maybe. It depends on who you're playing. She has good results on grass, though. I remember I played her, what, fourth round a couple years ago. She obviously likes the grass and does well on it.

But, I mean, yeah, considering she likes to play on it and it can be tricky, yeah, maybe a little bit. I'm not sure if I can say exactly, but I think it's definitely maybe higher possibility on a surface like that if the opponent really likes it.

Q. When a player is playing that well, how challenging is it to counter that and to feel like you're able to match that level when you haven't had so much time on these specific courts?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, the courts definitely feel different. They feel much different than Aorangi, as well. I mean, that's grass. They're all kind of different, because it's a living surface. They're not all going to play the same.

Yeah, I tried my best to try and match her level. I thought I was going to be able to do it there, at least in the second and maybe if she dropped a little bit. She didn't really drop her level at all.

I was a little frustrated. I mean, that's the most frustrating part is that I wasn't able to figure it out, which I feel like I should be able to. So that's always disappointing.

At the same time, I don't think she gave me many chances. Maybe like one chance, there was like one point that maybe that could have turned something or if I would have held at the end. Not even the end. The hold before that at the 3-All game, I think. You never know, but who's to say, you know?

Q. It's not exactly been typical English weather, it's fair to say. There have been quite a lot of highly-ranked players who have gone out. Has that been a factor do you think in equalizing the matches and made it tougher for you to exploit the difference in your ability levels?

JESSICA PEGULA: I mean, maybe. I don't mind it. It was very humid today. I don't mind it. It feels like Florida. I definitely didn't feel tired, but I do feel like it probably slowed the court done a little bit. It was very heavy.

It felt like the balls with just kind of sitting for her. I wonder if we played... even yesterday felt hotter but more dry. Today feels kind of more cloudy and more humid. So I almost wonder if it was hotter and dryer, maybe I would have been able to win a few more free points on my serve or something like that. That maybe could have made the difference.

I'm sure it had a part to play because I think physically no one's expecting it to be really hot, especially for the men. I'm sure the three-out-of-five, I'm sure that comes into play with the heavier conditions.

Q. On three-out-of-five, the format, do you ever think that these matches can go so quickly, whereas it feels a match where it's best-of-five, you have a bit more time to work it out?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, 100%. I think it's harder to win two-out-of-three than it is to win three-out-of-five. Not physically, obviously, but I think it always is going to cater to the better player in the long run if you're playing three-out-of-five. I think you'd see a lot more upsets of top players if men played two-out-of-three in slams.

It's a lot harder when you don't have that much time. You get down one break, especially for the men, and you're like, Oh, gosh, I'm kind of done. I need some luck. I need someone to choke a little bit. There's a lot to needs to happen.

I definitely think three-out-of-five you have way more time to turn around. You do. You have an extra set.

Q. Would you want to play that?

JESSICA PEGULA: Would I want to play three-out-of-five? No. I would rather the men play two-out-of-three (smiling). I don't think we all need to start playing three-out-of-five.

For me it's too long. I personally lose interest watching the matches. I think they're incredible matches and incredible physically and mentally. I'm, like, Do we really need that? I don't know. I mean, some people love it.

I personally will not watch a full five-hour match. People can't even hold their attention long enough they say these days with phones. How are they holding their attention for five hours? I don't know. Just not my thing.

Q. Might you revise your planning for the grass court season for 2026, given that you won a warm-up tournament last year in Berlin, this year in Bad Homburg? Does that change your plans?

JESSICA PEGULA: I should just play no tournaments, get no wins, then roll into Wimbledon, and maybe I'll have better results (smiling).

It's so hard with the grass. You want reps on the grass. I mean, I can't take away that last week I had some really good wins. I came in here, and I feel like maybe if her level could have dropped, I would have been able to fight through that match. Who knows, maybe that would have gotten me through, and I would be in the second week, and that would have been a pivotal match for me. That's not what happened.

I mean, the grass season, it's always tricky with the schedule, what you want to play. But to be honest, this year I physically felt a lot better on the grass. Sometimes it takes me a while to get used to it. You can get kind of stiff, sore. You're much lower. It's a different surface to move on. That's kind of why I wanted to keep playing to make sure physically that I was able to play back-to-back matches and not have to deal with soreness or anything like that holding me back. I mean, that was the plan. But obviously it didn't work out, so...

I mean, it's just kind of seeing how you feel. I probably won't change that much next year, to be honest.

Q. Jess, was your knee on your mind during the match, and how is your knee now?

JESSICA PEGULA: The knee feels good. There wasn't really anything bothering me. The knee, I'm managing it pretty well. I think it's not really holding me back. I had a little bit of a neck injury as well that's been on and off this year. But at the same time, being able to play the last few weeks and get my body acclimated to the grass, it's actually felt really good.

So I feel good. That's why it's kind of disappointing that I'm not able to keep it going here.

Q. The stat sheet wasn't particularly pretty for you. Do you feel like that's just how stats go sometimes? First-serve percentage wasn't great for you.

JESSICA PEGULA: No, it wasn't. It was terrible. Yeah, it was bad. I mean, that was the one thing, I think I could have served better.

I was having trouble adjusting in the conditions. The ball didn't feel like it was moving. It didn't feel the same as how I've been serving. I've been serving pretty well the last few weeks. Again, it's so frustrating when something you've been working on so much doesn't come and help you when you want it to, especially on grass.

So yeah, I think that was something that could have been better. Yeah, I think she was forcing a lot of the errors and kind of forcing me for the stat sheet to be really bad. It wasn't the prettiest, yeah. The end of the first was crappy.

Again, she was, I think, forcing me to have to go for more, forcing me to try to change the pace and do different things. Yeah, I don't know.

Q. Obviously you made the final of the U.S. last year. Do you feel your level is a million miles away from where you were in New York?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. I've done really well up until this part of the year. This is definitely probably the worst result I've had all year. I mean, I've been winning lots of matches.

Even at the French, I was one game away from being in the quarters. Australia I beat some good players. Finals at Adelaide. I feel like I'm play good tennis.

It's just all about it having to come together for two weeks. That's really hard to do. I feel like I'm playing just the same or if not better than I did at the end of last year. I think I'm serving better, I think I'm doing a lot of things better. That's why I've had good results. Sometimes it doesn't quite all align when you need it to.

Q. It's a long time since you the lost in the first round of a major. What has been your approach to first rounds of majors? What is most surprising about today for you?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, it's really a bummer to lose. Like you said, I haven't lost first round of a slam in a very long time, so that sucks.

I used to kind of have trouble getting past the first round for a while. I remember I had a really tough match. I just told myself, I'm done losing first round, I'm not losing first round. I've been able to flip that mentality and have great results at slams and be really consistent as slams.

Yeah, for this to happen today, it's disappointing. I don't know how else to put it. I'm upset that I wasn't able to turn anything around. But at the same time, I do feel like she played kind of insane. Hats off to her. Kudos to her for playing at a high level that I couldn't match it today.

Bonus is I can go prep for the hard courts, which seems to be my favorite surface anyways, and see if I can just make some more magic this summer, I guess.

Q. It was interesting about when you said the men's being better best-of-three rather than best-of-five. Do you think that would raise interest level, especially with the younger generation?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. I know some guys are really against it. Some aren't. I mean, I think it would be a lot easier for TV, for scheduling. I mean, TV's always talking about making everything faster and quicker, all of that stuff. So I don't see why.

It's been such a staple for the men. I find it hard to believe they're ever going to change it. Maybe if they could also play three-out-of-five from the quarters on. I don't know. Something like that.

The game's getting so physical. I don't know why they'd want to, you know? It's so important to stay healthy. Like with how physical the guys are playing right now, that's really tough three-out-of-five for two weeks. I mean, it's crazy. It's so impressive, but at the same time, like, does it really need to happen? I don't know.

Maybe there's something where they look at changing it for certain rounds. I think that might be interesting. I don't know. I think that's very far away.