AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2026

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

J. PEGULA/M. Kessler

6-0, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Jess, very efficient win for you today. Do you want to just run us through what was working well for you today?

JESSICA PEGULA: I thought I played a very clean match, kind of executed exactly what I wanted to from the start. Maybe, you know, got a little help from her end, but at the same time, you know, was able to really just play a super-clean match and kind of do what I wanted to from start to finish.

You know, when those days come around, you take them and you run on with those to the next day, because it doesn't happen often.

She's a really tricky player and a good competitor. Happy that I got through with not a lot of drama, I guess.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I think you said on court you were disappointed to have to play McCartney because you're playing doubles together. How long have you known each other, and what was the reaction amongst you when you knew you were going to have to play so early in the tournament?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, it's been cool to see her come up so quickly. I remember when I first started with my coach, Mark Merklein, or one of my coaches, he went to watch her play when she was playing quallies of a grass court tournament, and it was right when we just started.

He told me he coached her brother at Florida, and there was a really cool connection there. She just kind of started on tour and was starting to do pretty well but was still playing quallies of a lot of these events. She kind of rose up pretty quickly.

It's been fun to see how well she's doing. Super nice. Got to play BJK with her, got to know her a little bit more. Her husband is really nice. Her brother, coach, is really nice. Nothing but good things to say about them.

Always tricky when you have to play someone that you know and that you like and also that you're playing doubles with. Yeah, I said on court that we had a bunch of blunders trying to play doubles together. Don't ask me why, but it was, like, there was, like, a miscommunication one time. One time I thought we signed in, but we didn't sign in. Actually in Brisbane we signed in and didn't get in.

So there was, like, a lot of these things, and then finally we got to play with each other. We're in the draw, we're all good, and everyone is good to play, and we play each other second round.

That part was just, yeah, kind of just unfortunate, I guess, because, you know, we obviously want to see each other do well separately in singles, not when we have to play each other.

Q. I just wondered, do you communicate with your coaches about what you want from them during a match? Does that change at a tournament like this when they are much closer to you?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah. I have always kind of been like give me less. I think less is more for me, unless there is something really glaring, but I'm not the type that really wants to chat.

Usually if I'm in a good frame of mind, I think I'm a little bit more open to talk and just not necessarily tell me what to do. I don't think I like that, but I think it's more of look out for certain patterns, look out for certain plays, or maybe cue me on something I need to change.

But I like it to be very, like, problem-solving, kind of figuring things out. I don't think I do well when someone kind of just, like, directly tells me, you need to do this, you need to do that. I don't think I respond well to that.

So I do communicate with them to keep it more of, like, an open dialogue almost. I think that kind of helps me get my brain thinking and problem-solving better out on the court and helps me see the court better when I feel like I have that type of communication.

But it's important, especially now with people being so close, especially here with the boxes are kind of down on the court. Before, I feel like in other slams, they are so far away that you can't really hear them or know what they're saying anyway if they were maybe mentioning something.

Q. What about from encouragement perspective? Some players want their team really going for it and some are, like, just back off. Where do you stand?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't think I give off a lot of fired-up energy sometimes when I'm out there, so I think they just kind of vibe with what I'm kind of feeling.

But I never want them to not be fired up, but at the same time, again, I think they kind of match my energy a little, and maybe kind of, now that they know me a little bit more, kind of see what I need a little bit more or when I need a little bit less. Usually I don't need less.

But, yeah, I'm not into, like, getting super hyped up. With my personality, it can be very draining for me, and I feel like I get really high. Usually there is a lull at some point. I kind of just like to stay steady, and I think they do a good job of kind of staying there with me.

Q. Curious if you feel, are there more spinnier ball strikers on tour now compared to when you were younger and when you first came on the tour? I'm thinking of Coco, Iga, Paolini. There are quite a few on tour right now.

JESSICA PEGULA: I think there are girls that probably hit a heavier ball now. When I started, I think it felt like more flat. I think courts were faster. Everything was just faster. You didn't really have time to lift the ball as much.

Then I do feel, though, there was a lot of players, like a Halep or a Wozniacki at some point, who I didn't play that much, because I wasn't quite ranked as high when they were kind of, like, dominating where they hit more of, like, not a lot of pace, but spinny, with certain shots. They had very good backhands where they hit hard.

Now I feel it's kind of like a mix a little bit where there is more of a heavier ball. I think girls seem bigger and stronger, and they hit not just like a slow, spinny ball, but they can hit that heavy one maybe more kind of like a guy where it's a big ball, but it's not exactly flat. It does have some rotation on it.

I do think maybe the conditions and just the way the game kind of changes over different years and generations a little bit, but compared to the guys, though, I feel like the girls still hit a lot flatter.

Q. This is a pretty sensitive subject, but the U.S. is a year into the second Trump Administration now, and a lot of people are suffering. I wonder how you feel about things back home personally and specifically what the mood is like in Florida.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, that's a tough question. I feel, you know, I don't know. I don't like to kind of dabble too much into politics, just because it's not the space that I really want to say that much on.

Yeah, I just hope that everybody can kind of, at some point, come together and work together as far as situations or whether it's political or not political in our country. I feel like we have a big country where there is a lot of media attention on us, too.

That's tough, because things definitely make their way around the world. And even me being in Australia, you hear about all these things going on back home.

I just hope, you know, that we can come together at some point with, like, a good dialogue where things can actually get accomplished and things that we want to see accomplished and it not be so divisive, I guess.

Q. When you have been in Florida, have you noticed a shift in the mood at all, or...

JESSICA PEGULA: Personally, Florida has been, I think, okay. I think Florida, there is a big melting pot of different people from all over in Florida. I feel like, especially me being in South Florida near Miami, I mean, there is people of all over the country that come to move to Florida, and there is a lot of international people that are there.

I don't know if that's maybe why you kind of get a lot of different cultural differences, in a good way, honestly. So Florida to me, at least where I live, has been fine.

Q. The tournament has posted a lot of attendance records in the last few days, even the lead-up to the tournament. There are just so many more people on the grounds. As a player, do you get a sense that there is a lot more people? What is that environment like? How does that feel?

JESSICA PEGULA: You know, I don't even know what goes on out there, because I haven't had to, like -- I don't walk and watch matches, but I did see some of the courts have, like, lines getting in, and it seems really busy.

I saw some reports that it's some of their busiest they have ever been and it's packed and all that, which is, I think, great. Obviously it shows that the event is growing, the sport is growing. That's, you know, amazing.

I think it was Eala is the match that I was looking at, and there was people, like, wrapped around the stadium just trying to get in, which is pretty crazy.

I mean, it's cool to see, and it's exciting, but obviously, you know, for a fan experience, I don't know, because I'm not living that same experience. But, hopefully, the event kind of continues to grow with the fans that we're getting and making that still an enjoyable experience for them.

Q. A lot of players have come into the new season with changed service motions. Even from last year there was a lot of tinkering with service motions on both tours. It seems to me that players are more willing to change things and make big changes to their serve compared to other groundstrokes. I'm curious if you feel that's the case, and if so, why?

JESSICA PEGULA: I think it's probably easier, because the serve is one thing that you can control with there being no other thing affecting it. It's just you and the ball. You control everything.

When you start changing groundstrokes, it can be really difficult. One, you probably hit more groundstrokes than you do serves, and two, you're responding to how someone is hitting the ball back at you. I think when you start putting that variable into play, it is a lot harder to kind of change strokes.

Obviously it's fine if you can just stand there and someone drops a ball, and you're working on technique. Then, all of a sudden, having someone else hit the ball differently, you don't know what's coming back, you don't know how it's coming back.

The speed of the court, the ball, there are so many other variables that come into play, which I think is what makes tennis so hard is that you're doing a lot of your stuff based off of, in a split second, what someone else is doing back to you.

With a serve, you don't have that issue. I think it's just a lot easier to kind of change, because you have full control over your stroke, whereas on your groundstrokes, you definitely don't.

Yeah, I changed my service motion, like, a few years ago, too. I'm a big proponent of changing things if you feel like it needs to be changed. I always am like, I don't want to end my career saying I wish I would have tried something different. Doesn't mean it's always going to work. It could fail pretty bad (smiling).

It's a process, too. I think changing strokes is a process. I think you have to do little things little by little, especially when our schedule, we don't have a lot of time to break things down where we're not playing. So sometimes you're changing things, and then you're having to put that into match play pretty quickly. That's hard to do.

So, again, I think the serve is probably the easiest stroke to kind of do that for.

Q. Since you have been a pro, have you ever made a big change to either of your groundstrokes, or was that always little by little?

JESSICA PEGULA: Honestly, I think I was blessed with an amazing coach that taught me very good technical strokes. I don't think I ever really had to change much.

If anything, it's just more footwork, legs. Maybe shortening your swing a little bit, but not actually changing any technique. I think the only thing I have changed throughout my career is probably my serve, and I have tried certain things a couple of times and kind of, yeah, manipulated that a little bit, but that's it.

Q. Aryna has had a few questions about being the World No. 1 and the responsibilities that bring in a way that I don't remember like Jannik or Carlos being asked. Do you think there is a different expectation on women and male players in regards to being an ambassador for the sport and a spokesperson and that kind of thing?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. I don't really feel like that. I feel like it's pretty even.

I think maybe there is, for women, tennis is probably the biggest sport in the world for women. I think when you look at the men there is other sports that people probably pay attention to more or are up there with tennis, you know, at the same level.

So I think maybe that's kind of a difference where maybe there is more of a spotlight on her, because she is the No. 1 player, has been for a little while now, and she's kind of maybe leading the torch, if you want to call it that, for us as a woman's sport.

So I could see that. But I don't really think there's any big difference in expectations. I mean, I think it's just she's No. 1 and we just happen to have the sport that's probably, you know, that, women make the most, that's probably the most popular. That just kind of, I guess, comes with it.