THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 7, 2026

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/J. Pegula

4-6, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Jess, if you could share your initial thoughts on the match today.

JESSICA PEGULA: Tough one today. She played really well. I thought she ended up serving really well the last couple sets. I still had a lot of break points, a couple unlucky on some ones I felt like in the second set that definitely could have gone either way.

I fought back to break, then got broken right back. That was a little frustrating. But, I mean, I thought she played well. I mean, it was an intense match. Yeah, just disappointed. But I thought it was a good match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. In this match, do you think there's anything you could have done differently?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I felt like there were some patterns that I didn't really stick to, now that I'm kind of like digesting. I feel like there's a lot of things that I wish I could have done differently. I mean, obviously in hindsight, it's always easier to say that.

There's definitely probably some patterns I wish that I would have trusted a bit more. Then I don't think I served my best. I thought I served okay, but I think she served a little bit better. There are just some things I wish I did differently on my serve.

Q. Hitting it flat to her forehand, is that one of the things you got away from?

JESSICA PEGULA: I mean, honestly I thought, like, strategy off the ground was good. I think I could have returned a bit better. I don't think, like, I was trusting my return position.

But kudos to her. She made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. I thought I started off returning really well and put a lot of pressure on her serve right from the beginning. Then it just kind of flipped.

I think maybe I was overthinking it a little bit and should have just trusted what I thought I should have done. Instead, I was getting caught and allowing her to get more freedom on her serve.

From the ground, yeah, I always play flat. That doesn't really change much. I think that's why sometimes I can give her a lot of trouble. I think maybe at the end I should have maybe changed up the pace and sliced a bit more, because I felt like she got onto the pace a bit and started playing much better. Yeah, she was playing well at the end.

I mean, there's just a couple things here and there, like, that you wish you could change, but it doesn't always mean that it's going to be a better outcome.

Q. Given her sort of past on grass, what were there things that you expected to be able to do today against her that surprised you that you weren't able to do more effectively?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't think there was anything that surprised me that she did better. I mean, with her serve, she can serve really well, and then obviously sometimes she can throw in some double-faults. I think that's what makes it so hard to play against, is you're not really sure what's coming.

I think in the first set she gave me a lot of double-faults, but I thought she would eventually serve better. I thought she would fight and compete and find a way to get some serves in. Then she started serving really well.

Maybe you think, oh, she's not going to serve that well. I think what's tough on this surface is if she does serve well, she serves big and she serves really good.

That wasn't necessarily surprising. I think it's just something where sometimes she doesn't serve well and sometimes she can serve great.

Over two-out-of-three sets, there's probably a point where she is going to start serving better. She was able to do that today. I think that was kind of the main difference.

I would say there was nothing really that surprised me that I didn't think she was going to do. I thought it was pretty much how I thought it was going to happen. She was able to execute her serve on some big points, especially in the second. Then I thought she played a good third set.

Q. In the lead-up, did it feel different coming out to play her on a Grand Slam stage since you guys have never met in a major before?

JESSICA PEGULA: No, I didn't even realize that. Not really. It felt the same.

I think once you're out there, you're in the moment and you're just playing the person across the net. I think, yeah, she stepped up on pressure points I thought really well. When she needed to lock in and just not miss a ball, that's what she did.

But that's I think vintage Coco. I think that's happened in all of our matches. It's just whether I'm able to capitalize on it or not. But she's the best in the world at that. How well she competes and how she makes you beat her no matter the score or the moment I think is her best attribute and why she was a major champion and done so well.

I mean, that's every time I play her. I'm not sure if it really made much of a difference being at a Grand Slam. It didn't really feel that different to me out there. Felt like a lot of our other matches.

Q. Being on Centre Court for the first time, what was it like being out there?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, it was awesome. Never really been out there. It was really cool. Definitely a different feel to Court 1. It feels a little bit more intimate.

The roof is different up top when you're looking visually. I thought it was really cool. It was definitely special walking out there. I like how you just walk out together. I think that's really cool, something that I don't think anywhere else really does. That was kind of a cool part.

Q. How would you look back at your grass season? Maybe it's a bit too early to ask that question.

JESSICA PEGULA: I mean, it's the best grass season I would say from start to finish that I've had. Being able to make finals of Berlin, beat some really good grass court players, and lose to Noskova in the finals, who knows, may be in the finals here. We don't know, but she's been playing great.

Yeah, to get some really good, solid wins here and play a good match in the quarterfinals, play on Centre Court for the first time. Had a great win in the fourth round. I think there were a lot of really good takeaways. I think it's probably one of the better grass courts seasons I've had from start to finish.

It's short, so I guess it was short and sweet. Not the best result. But I think I can still walk away going into the hard court season playing some good tennis. Hopefully can build off of this to get a good start in the summer swing.