WTA FINALS

October 31, 2025

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Jess, back in your fourth consecutive WTA Finals. How does that feel?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, it's pretty cool to be able to say I've been here for, yeah, four straight years now. It's quite an accomplishment I think, especially after making it the first year, being able to feel like you can back that up years after is a pretty good accomplishment.

Yeah, I'm definitely very proud to be back this year.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk a little bit about the time you've had between Asia and here. What did you do? Did you have enough time to prepare?

JESSICA PEGULA: I was back for almost two weeks, which I think was really a nice amount of time. I think any longer you would have been sinking into the year's kind of over. It wasn't too quick coming back from such a long trip in Asia.

I came back, had some really good results in China. I think was excited to take a few days, but also to get back on the practice court and hopefully build off of some of that momentum of playing and competing really well in China and taking that into such a big event at the end of the year.

It was a little reset, a little refresh. But really excited to travel here and, again, come back and be able to compete with the best players in the world.

Q. How much weight do you put on something like a win against Aryna? You managed to tactically play that to perfection. What can you take from that?

JESSICA PEGULA: I think it was nice timing coming into this tournament because obviously there was a high chance I'd have to play her.

At the same time, I mean, I felt like in the previous matches I've been really close, just maybe gotten a little unlucky or she's just been too good. I didn't really walk away from those matches being that upset about them. I felt like I competed and I gave myself chances every single time.

I think when it came to that match, I was able to turn it around there in the third. It got very dramatic there at the end.

I don't know, I was happy I won. I was looking at going into the next match and trying to win the tournament at the same time. Maybe that kind of was why maybe I didn't really think too much of it.

But yeah, I mean, I hope it gives me some confidence. I think it was a little relief like, Oh, finally I got her in three sets.

I didn't see it as a huge weight being lifted. I think I've given myself good positions to be there. I was just more happy to be in the finals of Wuhan and kind of give myself a chance to win the tournament and build off of that.

When you can beat the best player in the world, it always gives you a lot of confidence. I know that she's definitely not going to want to lose to me the next time. That's going to motivate her.

I feel like she's a player that definitely feeds off a lot of motivation and getting revenge a little bit. She's definitely I think going to use that next time we play.

It was good, but I'm definitely not taking my foot off the pedal by my means.

Q. All of your titles this season came on different surfaces. Which surface do you feel the most comfortable and confident on? Does that influence your goals for next season?

JESSICA PEGULA: I think I've always felt the best on hard court. I think my results have kind of shown that.

I don't really dislike any surface a lot. I think hard court, it suits my game I think the best. I also like that it's a true bounce. There's not bad bounces. I think on clay and grass you can get a little unlucky, which kind of can get on my nerves.

I think being able to win on different surfaces just shows that I can do well on any surface. I think physically and mentally it's always a confidence boost, especially if you felt like you've been unlucky on a certain surface or having a hard time winning.

Sometimes going into different swings of the season, a lot of it is mental, accepting you're going to have to adapt a little bit. At the same time you never want to lose that identity of your game and how you play.

I think I did a better job of this year staying true to how I play tennis, then adapting a little bit depending on the surfaces. Maybe that's with strategy a little bit more this year, which I think I did a little bit better at. I think I'm proud of that. Obviously being able to win those tournaments shows that I was able to adapt and kind of learn from previous years. Yeah, that was really cool.

I think, again, it gives me confidence that my game can kind of go wherever it needs to go.

Q. What were some of your pre-season goals? How did they manifest themselves in the season?

JESSICA PEGULA: I think some of my pre-season goals, you're talking about coming into this season, last year, they were very, I don't know, I think I came off such a big accomplishment, making my first Grand Slam at the US Open, that can be like a really big high.

I felt like going into Asia, I kind of hit a lull. I wasn't really that healthy to be honest when I came here last year. I was really struggling with a knee injury.

Off-season was really to get healthy, to get my movement back, to feel like I was ready to go play in Australia, which I was able to do.

With my team, we were honestly focused on competing every single match, not feeling like I gave in or I succumbed to my emotions or frustrations at any point in the match. I think I was able to do that really, really well this year, being able to win tournaments on different surfaces, especially this last swing, a lot of three sets, up-and-down matches. I think mentally I was able to compete every single point.

That was honestly something that we really, really worked on. Another one was obviously to do well at the slams. Was hit or miss a little bit there, but still was able to put up a strong showing at the US Open, which coming back, not playing that great in the summer, then being able to still back up another really great result coming off of a final, I think that gave me a lot of confidence, as well, just to end the year on a good note.

I don't know. My pre-season goals I think are always pretty broad and changing throughout the year. There's so many different challenges you face in the year. I think depending on what's happening, I try to adapt those goals as I go. They can kind of vary.

But I like to keep them relatively small because I think that's how I end up getting the bigger goals accomplished.

Q. Why do you think you've been so consistently good past the age of 30?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. I think, one, I was a little bit of a late-bloomer. I feel like the success I've had, it's different when you're having this much success at a young age, you've been doing it so much longer. By the time you hit 30, you've had 10 years of that. That is like five extra years that I haven't had to do.

I also think I was pretty hurt my early 20s. I actually didn't put in a lot of time on tour like consecutively, where I feel like that even though I was hurt physically, it can be really mentally draining.

So to me, I feel like, I don't know, I'm really not feeling like a 31-year-old on tour. Maybe I'm more like a 28-year-old. At least that's what I tell myself (laughter).

I didn't really put in those years when I was really young. I wasn't playing that much. I wasn't traveling that much. I wasn't winning that many matches. I was hurt. I was home a lot. I don't think it's accumulated to a true veteran at 31.

I think emotionally I'm pretty stable. I think that really helps. I don't let my highs get too high and my lows get too low. I'm good at compartmentalizing what I need to focus on. I try to keep it lighter. I try to play with not too much heavy emotional baggage, try to keep everything balanced personally and on the court.

I think that's one of my strengths honestly as a player. I think that's why throughout the year I'm able to stay consistent with my results throughout the past few years.

Q. How do you feel about the conditions here as far as playing conditions, altitude? What do you feel is more important on the court, tactic or technique?

JESSICA PEGULA: Well, the conditions here, I think it helps that I was here last year. I have a base coming in of how I was going to feel. A little bit of altitude here. The balls are kind of flying. The way they're playing definitely takes a few days to get used to it. Yesterday felt a lot better than even like the first day where you kind of feel like you don't know what's going on.

It definitely plays a little fast I think. The court's a little jumpy. It takes kind of what you give it. A lot of kicks, a lot of slices. It's taking the spin a lot. With the altitude, it's going to play a little bit faster, for sure.

What was the second part?

Q. Tactics or technique.

JESSICA PEGULA: For me, tactics. Technique I think is really tough when you're at this point. I think technique is really important when you're younger. Then I think it kind of shifts as you get older.

At this point for me tactically I think more kind of important because your strokes and everything are kind of going to be the way that they are. You kind of know how you're going to play. It's just more tactically how can you be unpredictable and how are you adapting to what that player is, what are their patterns that they like to do, are they changing those patterns based on you or are they changing 'em based on trying not to be predictable. There's a lot of little things that go on.

Then being able to I think see those things during a match and being able to change during a match is really important, kind of having a feel of what's going on. That's not every day. Some days everything is going great and things are just working right. That's not usually the case.

I would say probably tactically.

Q. It's been 23 years since there were four Americans in the WTA Finals field. How does it feel to be mentioned alongside that history? How would you describe the camaraderie between the current four Americans in this field? Is it more camaraderie, competitiveness, both?

JESSICA PEGULA: I mean, one, it's a pretty cool stat that I'm able to be a part of that. I feel like I've been able to be a part of really cool American women's stats over the last couple years, which has been really fun.

I get along with all the girls really well. I think we all do. I think it's cool that we've all had totally different, unique stories as to how we've gotten here, our results over the last few years.

To be able to still be here through different journeys I think speaks a lot. I think sometimes fans tend to grasp towards one specific way to kind of get to the top, to get here. I think we've seen it's completely different with the group of girls that we have.

I personally enjoy all of them. I think I'm friends with all of them. I think we all live in Florida. We've all practiced together a lot. I think we all know each other very well.

We obviously want to do the best and are always pushing ourselves to be the best player we can be on the court. I think we definitely have a nice camaraderie. Not just these girls, but I think all the Americans. We honestly really get along.

I think that helps take the pressure off of us a little bit. We know there's a lot of good Americans. It's not riding on one person's shoulders, which I think is really nice. Now that we're in this age of tennis, I think we realize that that support has helped us. I think we kind of recognize that. It's definitely a fun group to be part of.

Q. Reading your quotes after you beat Aryna in Wuhan, it seemed like you sort of enjoyed not so much the process of getting to that point, but the puzzle of figuring out how to crack the code. Does that translate into any other areas of your life? Did you grow up loving puzzles? Are you analytical in those everyday life portions?

JESSICA PEGULA: No, I'm not at all. I'm actually, like, so not type A. I'm very 'feel it out and it will work out' kind of person. I'm not a super, like, pre-planner, analytical type of personality.

So when I was growing up, definitely I wasn't like that at all as a tennis player. I was really not smart on court. I didn't think about anything. I didn't even know how to play tennis. When I look back, I'm like, Wow, I was really bad tactically. Now everyone tells me how great I am at it. It's really funny.

But it was a learning process for me to how to kind of I think I thought I had to be super analytical. I think I found as I got better growing up how to still be myself and have my personality on court, but still problem solve.

To me, it's a lot of feel, a lot of knowing a couple things, then feeling it out. I'm not the type of player that likes to be told a million things before I play because I feel like with tennis, there's so many moving parts, it's not like other sports where it's set plays, the other team is doing set plays.

There's a lot of variables that can change in the middle of a point. You have to be able to kind of think through those really quickly in real-time and figure that out.

I've learned being relaxed and being super present has really helped me see a lot of things on court. Maybe somewhat seems like I've turned into a very strategic, analytical person. I'm really not. I think I actually do that better when I'm more relaxed. I've kind of learned how to balance that with my personality, which is definitely not planning anything.

Q. I saw you spent some time on the golf course. Do you think golf or tennis is the more difficult sport mentally?

JESSICA PEGULA: Well, right now for me definitely golf (laughter). One bad hole and I'm mentally breaking down. That's actually helped my tennis game a little bit. When I started playing a lot, I had to kind of be a little bit more strategic with my skill set because it wasn't obviously as high as it is in tennis. That was kind of a fun learning curve. I also like to problem solve on the golf course.

Yeah, mentally my golf comes and goes on the mental side.