DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

February 21, 2026

Jessica Pegula

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium

Press Conference

J. PEGULA/E. Svitolina

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Jess, congratulations. Your first Dubai title. Incredible week. Just give us your overall thoughts of the 2026 Dubai event.

JESSICA PEGULA: Super happy to walk away with the title this week. Yeah, I've been playing some really good tennis the last six months. I was hoping that it was going to keep paying off.

Going deep in these tournaments, giving myself another chance, I was able to do that again this week. Come back from a tough match yesterday, then be able to play I feel like almost a perfect match tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Coming off yesterday, you and Elina had some long matches, but how did you feel coming in?

JESSICA PEGULA: I think I probably felt a little bit better than she did. Her match last night with Coco was an insane match, super high level. I was watching. Two of the best competitors I think we have on tour, if not the best. They put on a show last night.

Maybe it benefited me a little bit that I got to be done a little bit earlier. I did have a quite physical match, even though it was only two hours. The last two sets were pretty physical. I'm happy with the way I was able to recover.

To be honest, my recovery score is pretty bad today (laughter). Luckily I was able to put that aside and feel pretty good.

Q. With all the fuss that was made of the withdrawals, we ended up with incredible semifinals. Can you look at the week and think what it means for you to go through all that, also a statement of where the women's game is right now?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, I was looking at the draw actually. We talked about all these withdrawals. But, I mean, like, we had four top-10 girls in the semis. We had a few more in the quarters.

It just shows you the depth of women's tennis. It just shows you the level is so high week in and week out. Even when you have a lot of players withdrawing, just because we're missing a few, it doesn't mean that we still can't put on some great tennis.

I think we did that especially last night with some really good matches. The night before, my draw was very hard, it was a really tough draw. I was able to beat a couple top-10 players along the way. It definitely was not a cakewalk by any means.

Like you say, it shows the depth of the game right now. It's not easy. It's hard every single week, every single day. Especially in these shorter events where you're coming back-to-back days, having to battle right away. Not just battle anybody, but girls that are really, really good.

Yeah, super proud of the state our sport is in right now. I think it's super strong.

Q. What do you think the most shot that you feel good with, the serve, the forehand?

JESSICA PEGULA: I would say both actually. I would say just in general my footwork is a lot better. Not that we necessarily worked on moving faster or more efficient, just kind of flowing through my shots.

Think we kind of went back to emphasizing how I play tennis. It's not the same as maybe Aryna or an Iga or Coco or whoever. I like to take the ball early. I like to work on my timing and all this stuff.

We kind of went back to the basics of, Okay, this is how you play, it's special. How do we make that more efficient? That's a lot more efficient footwork, taking the ball earlier, being able to flow through my shots a little bit better.

The serve has been a work in progress since I started with both the Marks almost a few years ago now. We've been working really, really hard on the serve.

Every few months I feel like I make a little bit of a jump. I think that shows how I was able to serve against a really good returner as Elina tonight. Helped me get a lot of free points. When it's a little tight at the end, hitting an ace out wide is nice (smiling). We've been working on that serve a lot. To be able to hit that on a match point is great.

Q. (Question about the podcast.)

JESSICA PEGULA: Did he drop it when I was playing? Did you see Queen? It's unbelievable.

Q. That is the best piece of content you put out so far. The conversation that happened, your nickname.

JESSICA PEGULA: It's hilarious. It worked out. Des and I, after she left, we were like this is going to be so funny. It was perfect. It was totally not planned at all. Of all the people that kind of walk in and her whole, like, I need to look at myself real quick. Okay, I'm good. She was so funny.

But yeah, that was fun. We did film that, like, several days before the tournament started, by the way. I wasn't eating a bunch of chocolate last night. I hope people realize that.

Q. She's asking you how Chinese fans see you, like why are you playing. What is your answer to Chinese fans about why you choose to do this?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. It's something I've loved to do since I was a kid, since before I had anything about my family or money or the teams or stuff like that.

I wanted to be No. 1 in the world when I was, like, six years old. It's been my dream for as long as I can remember to be No. 1, to be able to play on tour, to be able to win slams.

I mean, it's pretty cool that I can look back and say that I'm putting myself in contention to do that, living out my dream.

Yeah, it's just honestly been a goal of mine since I was a little girl.

Q. Birthday plans?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. I'm going to be flying home, so I'm not really sure yet. We'll see. I don't know. Might be a surprise.

Q. You spoke about the depth of women's tennis, despite the withdrawals. What is your perspective on a youngster from the Philippines who got the stadium full house every match, bringing new demographic. How do you view that progress and how important is it for the sport of tennis?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, Alex is amazing. Hopefully she's the next podcast guest and we can kind of get to know her and talk to her more.

The way she's been able to pack stadiums and the way her country supports her is something special. She handles it so maturely, with such grace. She seems so appreciative of all the support she gets. Always seems to have a good head on her shoulders and good attitude about it.

It's amazing. I played her when she kind of broke out last year in Miami. I'm from there. The whole crowd was against me. I was like, What on earth is going on? Where did these people come from?

Week after week as she has done well and established herself as a really good player on tour, they all come out to support her. I think we saw that in Australia, when it was kind of overcrowded, they put her on too small of a court.

We saw it here. You can hear it from the hotel. You can hear the crowd roaring at night. It's incredible. I think it's awesome for what she's doing for the sport. She's a perfect role model for it. I'm sure she wants to inspire girls, Filipino girls, to play tennis and go after their dream. It's awesome for the sport. Yeah, it's really, really cool. I think we just had a tournament there that she played.

Q. Compare this title with the previous titles.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, last time I won a 1000 is when I went back to back Montreal and Toronto. That was obviously really special.

This one, I don't know. What other 1000 did I win? Mexico. Today is the first outside North America, which is kind of cool. I lost I think Madrid final. So yeah, maybe that kind of makes it a little bit special, somewhere that's not in North America, which proves I can play overseas, which is nice.

I think I've had some good results here in the past. I've always thought I could play well here. But I think just finally getting over that hurdle. Not only that, how I was able to come back from the match yesterday I think also makes it really special.

Q. What is your message for the young tennis players in this part of the world?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I would say I hope they get to watch us. I hope they get inspired by watching us and the men coming up next week, they go after their goals and dreams and they keep working hard. It's something that can be achieved with a lot of hard work and persistence. Not be afraid to dream big.

I know tennis isn't the most popular sport here, but I think there are a lot of great role models coming up in the Middle East. I think it only seems to be growing. I hope that continues to inspire all the kids to keep playing, maybe have some more players come out of this region.

Q. You spoke about from the age of six of wanting to be the best player in the world. With the start you have this year, how confident are you of getting the elusive major title?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, it's the next step for me. I've come really close. At the same time I don't feel like I want it to define my career. I think if I had to stop right now, I had an amazing career. I definitely wouldn't have any regrets.

I think I've proven that you can do well in a later age. I think I didn't really break through until I was after 24, 25, which is a little late nowadays. I think I proved a lot of people wrong. I think I proved to myself that I was a top athlete at this level. Made slam finals, gone deep in several slams now. Won titles on tour. I think my highest ranking was 3 or something.

There's definitely a lot to be proud of. I definitely don't tie my identity to an elusive slam. It's kind of always the last goal of mine that I'm really going after. Being able to gain confidence and win titles like this is only going to help me hopefully and prove that I've improved as a player.

Hopefully come next slam, I'm able to execute and do those things that I need to do in order to keep progressing and going deep and giving myself the best shot.

Q. Three Americans in the semifinals. First American winner since 2014. Talk about the rise of American tennis, how it's coming up with so many quality players.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, our depth in the U.S. is pretty crazy right now. I feel like every time I go deep, there's multiple Americans that are there, especially now that we have Coco, Amanda doing so well. Yeah, it's been incredible.

I'm glad that I've been able to be a part of this kind of era of all these girls doing really well in the States. I know it's definitely motivated me to see them do well.

I think when you grow up with people, see them all the time, you're practicing, you've seen them in juniors, you see them have good results, it motivates you that you can do the same thing. I think we've really kind of pushed each other in that way to keep improving to see that we can accomplish all these things.

Yeah, it's amazing. It's an honor to be a part of this amazing group. Again, there's a lot of young ones like Iva that are coming up, which I'm way older than, which is really depressing (smiling). I'm glad I'm able to inspire and, yeah, show that next generation that's coming up. We have a lot of really young girls, too.

Yeah, it's just been awesome. It's an honor that I've been able to be one of the top ones representing my country at BJK Cup and the Olympics, as well. Be hopefully somewhat of a role model for the next crop that's coming up.