AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2026

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

J. PEGULA/O. Selekhmeteva

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Jess, back into the round of 16 here. Just give us your thoughts on the match today and how you played.

JESSICA PEGULA: Really happy to be back into the fourth round. Yeah, I mean, I think I played some really good matches, been very efficient I think score-wise, you know, time on court.

Today was really tricky. I didn't know that much about her. She's a lefty. I think she's definitely probably going to do pretty well the next couple years. I think she'll definitely swing probably into the top 50, I would imagine. I mean, she's tricky. She's a good player.

Yeah, we had a couple tough games there, but I thought I was able to kind of grab the momentum when I could. Served very well. Just was able to execute my game plan.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Starting an hour earlier than usual may not be a big deal. I'm curious how it impacted your routine?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I figured it was because of the heat that was coming in. I think once we kind of knew that was the reasoning, I think most of us were okay with it. Just little bit earlier bedtime maybe, earlier day.

You know, it's a little bit different, but not crazy. I think we're all used to it. I think I would much rather have played first and hopefully won efficiently enough to kind of get out of that heat as quick as possible.

So for me, it was definitely probably a good move. I'm glad, though, that they did have the roof open for us. It was closed for a while. I think they weren't quite sure maybe what they were going to do, but I wanted to be in the heat a little bit, because I might have to play in it in a couple days anyway.

It was nice that it was kind of open. Worked out perfect in my case, so I was fine with it.

Q. Did it get hotter as the match wore on?

JESSICA PEGULA: It started to get a little hot. I just tried to use the ice towels as much as I could, just precooling a lot. Not necessarily that it felt that hot at the moment, but if it did start to creep up or if something happened and we go into a third, I definitely think it could kind of zap you pretty quick with hot it could get.

The fact that we haven't been playing that much in the hot temperatures I think is what gets people. You have no kind of tolerance to it, and then it all of a sudden comes out of nowhere. We're used to it happening here, but it's hard to prepare for that.

Was just trying to prep with the ice towel.

Q. A lot of the players who live or train in Florida, when asked about the heat, just shrug. What are the worst conditions you played in? Any a scenario when you were figuratively cooked in a match?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, definitely here a couple times. Florida, it's so hot that, yeah, I think we're a lot more used to it, because when we go home, it's hot most of the year. So we're usually hit with that heat pretty much all year round when we're training. I think it's just kind of in our blood. You definitely get used to it.

In the winter, in the pre-season, it's definitely not as hot, so we're not quite as tolerant to it when we come here. There has been some hot days here, I remember, in the past, the few other years I've played. I would say Cincinnati can get really hot. DC can get really hot.

I would say I think not so much hot, but really humid is during Miami Open, sometimes those night matches. I remember playing I think it was probably Eala, Raducanu, Potapova one night match. It was just like you felt like you couldn't breathe, you were in a steam room. That's more like the humidity zapping you.

Cincinnati and DC can get pretty hot. It's really hot, humid. It can kind of zap you pretty quick.

Q. Have you seen reports, PTPA, Tennis Australia, talk of another new version of the tour. What did you make of it, especially in the context of the ongoing discussion that the players are having or not having with the slams?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I didn't really read the article. I just saw the headlines. I honestly don't really know anything about it, so I don't really know if I can say anything.

Yeah, just someone kind of sent it to me. I was, like, LIV tennis tour like a joke. I didn't even read the article, so I have no idea what it's about.

Q. You mentioned about preparing, doing the ice cooling. What other steps do you take to prepare for playing in the heat, whether that's the things you eat or drink, tension of your racquet?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, tension, luckily I kind of stay the same, but I definitely string a couple racquets tighter just in case I feel like the ball is flying on me.

As far as preparation, I think I just try to eat really well and make sure I fuel up the day before. For me, I don't really love eating too much the day of or right before. So for me it's always the night before, a lot of hydration the night before, taking my usual electrolytes, getting some good carbs in, and getting some good sleep I think is always the best prep.

To me, at least with the people I work with, it's always kind of the pre-fuelling that's more important than even, like, the day of. So I try to do that as best as I can.

Sometimes if it's super hot, they'll tell you to get in the cold tub, like, before you go out. I haven't really done that that many times. Maybe if I had singles and doubles and I kind of wanted to do it in between, I would do that. But with an early start, I wasn't quite ready to get into the cold tub at, like, 8 a.m.

Q. You're so consistent. It's hard to tell when you're playing really well versus when you think you're playing well. I'm curious, what are the clues that you have in your head of when you're on the court and you're having a really good day as opposed to just your basic solid day, which is really solid?

JESSICA PEGULA: I think for me I guess -- I don't know.

I play a little differently, I feel like, than some players. I like to use my feel and my hands a lot with how I strike the ball. I'm not kind of muscling. I'm not, like, using a lot of my body.

For me, I feel like when my footwork and I feel like I'm kind of flowing into the ball is when I'm playing my best tennis, where I'm able to change the direction of the ball and hit winners. I'm able to find angles. I'm kind of flowing into the net, finishing balls at the net.

For me, it's kind of where I'm not really trying that hard. It's just kind of happening, because I'm just kind of seeing the ball, timing the ball well. My footwork is good. I always feel like when I get into that kind of flow state, that's always when I am playing my best, because for me, I don't kind of strain a lot. I don't muscle the ball that much. It's really a lot of timing and footwork and spacing and taking the ball early.

So when I feel like I'm flowing into the court and kind of, like, almost maybe I hit a couple winners that I wasn't even trying to, I'm like, oh, I must be kind of feeling it today.

You can kind of tell with your timing. The ball kind of looks like a watermelon a little bit. You don't feel very rushed. You feel like you have all the time in the world. I think those are some cues when players know they're kind of feeling it.

For me, it's definitely a lot of timing, moving into the court. It's kind of effortless.

Q. I don't know how much stats there's been kept on this. I think next round will be the first match in Grand Slam history between two podcast co-hosts.

JESSICA PEGULA: That is true (laughter).

Q. Is this a big opportunity for the show, pregame, postgame?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, we're going to go live (laughter).

Q. What are the plans? This is the biggest stage you want. RLA for hours.

JESSICA PEGULA: Maybe we should tell Des. She's here. She can go live on the pod during our singles match. Actually I think we're going to try and record tomorrow since we have a day off tomorrow to get our episode for next week.

Yeah, I mean, we kind of saw we were in the draw. I honestly didn't really realize it until last round that if we both win, we would play each other.

I mean, we're so used to it. Like, it doesn't really change that much. But, yeah, maybe it will help the numbers on the pod. If we film tomorrow, we can kind of, yeah, market that it was, like, us recording before we had to play each other.

Q. An hour of trash talk?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, maybe that's what we should do. We'll see what kind of segments we can come up. It could be like a trash talk segment before we play.

Yeah, I guess it's kind of funny. We're so used to playing and being around each other. It's not really that big of a deal.

Q. You said obviously you're so used to playing friends. What is it like for the rest of the group chat? Now will Des and Jenny make jokes, message the chat during the match or...

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. I'm trying to think the last time. I don't know if we've played when we had the pod. I don't know.

But in the chat, yeah, I mean, they'll just say, Have a good match, guys, have fun, go out there, whatever. It's not that serious.

I'm trying to think. I don't remember what they said last time we played maybe at the Open a few years ago. But, no, they keep it pretty light. I think they want us to have fun and have a good match. They know one of us is going to get through. Just as long as no one, I don't know, falls and hurts themselves or something like that. It's usually a pretty low-key vibe, I guess.

Q. You know each other so well. What do you need to get right to get the better of her?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, she plays very well down here. Obviously we know that. She's defending champion. I think she's kind of embracing that and has been playing some pretty good matches, as well. Pretty straightforward.

It will be interesting. I think I need to kind of go back to the drawing board and look at some things I need to change. The last few times I've played her I feel like I just -- she played well, I think, in Adelaide last year.

I do feel like I'm doing some things better this year, you know, in the last six months where hopefully I can use those tools, and it will help me when I play her in a couple days.

Yeah, I kind of need to figure out some things that I need to do different against her, because I've lost the last couple times. She's the type of player, when she's on, she can beat anybody. We know that. I'm just going to have to use some of the tools I think that I've gotten better at, and hopefully they work. We'll see.

But yeah, I'm excited for the challenge to kind of hopefully turn that around a little bit.