MUBADALA DC OPEN

July 30, 2026

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

J. PEGULA/M. Frech

3-6, 6-3, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Jess, congrats on the win. Just your thoughts on the match.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, happy to be through. Another three-set match, but you know, I played really well I thought towards the end of the second, into the third set. So happy that I was able to kind of flip my level and get a win here.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I want to follow up on that. You had 42 winners, a crazy amount. I'm curious, was there something that kind of changed mentally that got you, you know, to that point in the second, or was it...

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I think to start the second, I kind of looked at my coach, and I kind of knew that I had to obviously change things. One was definitely changing my serve, and then I think the second thing was just trying to play more up on the baseline.

I felt like I was kind of waiting and letting the ball kind of come to me a bit, and the center court I think plays a bit slower, a little bit bouncier, so I just felt a little off with my footwork.

I think once I started to try to confront the ball and stand up more on the baseline, everything kind of sped up for me. I started playing much quicker, much faster, and that's my game. So I was able to kind of change that and execute.

Q. I like that word choice of confront. I wanted to ask about just starting on a Thursday, having byes here. It's relatively late. I'm not sure when you got into town, but how is that? I think you had that last year here, too. How do you adjust to kind of having one of the later starts?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, I didn't mind it, because like I kind of mentioned before, my prep wasn't exactly ideal. So I think for me it was nice having a little extra day to get used to the conditions and the balls and everything.

But it's tough, because now you play, you know, I'm first on tomorrow at 12:00. You're right back. You play every single day. I mean, I don't mind it. I think it's just a different setup, but I know there's been some talk possibly of maybe there's no byes for the top seeds, which I wouldn't mind either.

I think it's hard as well having to come out and play a girl that's possibly played a couple of matches from qualifying or played a match under her belt. You feel a little bit cold once you get out there.

Yeah, it's a different setup, but I think I've been kind of used to it a little bit by now.

Q. I wanted to follow up on what you were talking about in the on-court interview about playing Anna and how your matches are always just kind of crazy. I'm curious, why do you think that is? I don't think it's a coincidence that that's happening, the three-set matches each time. I guess to follow up on that, are there any other opponents that you kind of are feeling, Oh, I already know what I'm getting myself into?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I think there's a few like that. Anna is definitely one of them. I've also had to play her quite a bit, too, so that's always been tough.

I don't know. Well, one, I think she plays really well against top players. I think she plays really free. I think her record against top players shows that.

But I do think that our games just match up where we kind of play into each other's games and tend to make it really hard for both of us. I don't know why that is. I think sometimes you just have those matchups; sometimes you don't.

I think when I play Aryna, we've always had some really tough matches, three-setters. I think the same thing with Coco just because we know each other's game so well. I would say someone here I feel like that's always tough is Samsonova. I've had a lot of tough three-set matches with her.

Anna is definitely, because we've played so much. She's definitely the first one that comes to mind. Maybe Alexandrova. Her and Alexandrova, I'm like, sometimes they come at me early in the draw, and I tell my coach, I don't know if I'm mentally ready for this yet (laughing).

Q. Ben was in here a couple of nights ago, and he was talking about the pressure that American players feel in the U.S., especially being a higher seed. I wanted to get your perspective on that as well. If not just here, but collectively at tournaments in the U.S., if your mental approach differs at all?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I don't know if I feel that much pressure just, because there's so many of us that I do think we get a little bit of a break. When one doesn't do well, there's usually another one in the draw that's able to kind of pick up the slack.

I mean, I'm honestly kind of thankful that there are so many of us when I've been a top player, because I can't imagine the pressure maybe more of like a Serena, Venus type of situation. Not just being already amazing champions, but then also coming into the U.S. swing as Americans feeling like, okay, they're the ones that have to win the US Open every single time.

So I'm thankful I'm not the only one. I think that we all kind of share a bit of that pressure, which in my mind has been a nice to alleviate some of it. So, yeah, I mean, it's interesting that he feels it a lot. I think it's almost like we share it a bit.

But there is a lot of talk about it because there's so many of us. I think we always get asked in press, like, Oh, American tennis is doing so well, but maybe besides Coco I think winning the French, the last, and winning US Open, like, we're not winning every single slam, and there's a lot of us.

I do think sometimes I feel that pressure on all of us kind of like, Well, there are so many of you, and you guys are all so good. Why are you not winning every single slam? I think that's where you feel some of the pressure.

Obviously for the guys having to battle against Jannik and Carlos and a lot of those guys and now Zverev, it's harder I think for them.

Q. I wanted to ask about a topic that the guys seem to talk about a lot, which is the quality of the balls and possibly them getting worse over the last few years since the pandemic. Taylor Fritz will talk about this for hours.

JESSICA PEGULA: Yes (laughing).

Q. I haven't heard it being as much of a women's topic as much, but I'm curious your own personal views for it and then also as a council representative, if it's something you think WTA players are also concerned about?

JESSICA PEGULA: We've talked a lot about these fricking tennis balls, like, until the cows come home. Oh, my gosh.

It's hard. It's just hard because -- and you learn a lot about it. There's different manufacturers, so obviously different countries. So different tournaments get the same ball, but it's from a different place that makes them, so it feels different.

I think the surface of the court, and does it fit with the ball? Sometimes the balls are okay, but you put it on a gritty court, and they get really chewed up.

The weather, sometimes it's really hot and humid. Sometimes it's cooler. So that dictates whether they fly or don't fly. There are so many variables. Even day-to-day how they change from it being maybe cooler today, but hot the other day.

So it's kind of like an impossible thing it feels like to solve, but I do think I've been more happy with the fact that we had the Dunlop balls for a lot of the beginning of the year, so at least you just get used to one ball. I think where you get frustrated is where you're constantly changing.

I know at one point the men were playing with three different balls in three weeks. That's crazy. Like, you ask any other sport to kind of deal with that, and they're, like, Are you joking? That wouldn't happen. So it sounds silly, but it does make a big difference.

I think the girls definitely -- we definitely do talk about it. I think a lot, too, with injuries, because maybe we're a little bit smaller, not as strong as the guys, and stuff like that that you have seen them take a lot of data based off of when we had, like, the extra duty balls versus the regular duty balls, were girls getting more injured? I think there was actually more wrist, shoulder, elbow complaints coming into the physios. So they're tracking a lot of that stuff.

I think player, obviously, like the health is really the main concern. Having to change a ball every single week is something your body is not used to, as well. Is it a good change, or is it a bad change? Are you seeing more injuries or less? There's just so many factors that go into it.

I'm hoping that we can just get to less changes and a more stable ball that hopefully is a better quality, because I do think since probably COVID that the quality has gone down immensely.

I know US Open was also kind of working on something I think maybe to try to use the same ball, because it's the only slam where we don't. The men and women don't do the same ball yet.

Q. On that COVID dropoff that people have pointed to, can you describe what started feeling worse about the balls and how you noticed them and if it's still an issue, when you open a can of balls, you don't know what you're going to get?

JESSICA PEGULA: I felt like this year it's been better, again, because we've stuck to at least the Dunlap ball where it's been the same. I think every year around this time I do feel like there's a dropoff a bit with the Wilson quality. One, because when we're at home practicing and you buy them off the shelf, they're definitely not the same as, like, when you get to US Open.

Also, I'm not sure if the tournaments are buying at the same time the Open does, because I know the Open, I think they actually order them the year before. I don't know, are those like the freshest out-of-the-factory tennis balls, and then maybe here and Cincinnati and Toronto they're using the same ball, but have they been sitting around for a year? I don't know.

So there's a lot of those things where I think on council we try to narrow it down. Like, okay, why does this feel different? What are all these factors happening?

To me, the main thing since COVID has been the quality. They just don't last. They get chewed up. They either get really super fluffy or they get really thin. They just don't last. They don't play the same way as when you start.

I think we've also talked about, which I don't know if the men have, changing balls sooner. Because if the qualities change, I've always been a proponent, then why don't we just change balls sooner? If we can't solve the ball problem, the new balls to the old balls, it's like two different matches sometimes. So I mean, that's I think also a big frustration with players.

I'm a fan of I think instead of 7 and 9, it should be maybe 7 and 7. I don't see why we can't do that.

Q. (Off microphone.)

JESSICA PEGULA: Or 5 and 7 or something. I don't know how the men feel about that, but at least there's not as much variation in that ball that you're using. But then, of course, everyone is, like, oh, we have to order X amount of more balls.

Tennis ball conversation, I don't know, it's a lot, but...

Q. That was very expansive.

JESSICA PEGULA: I'm with Taylor. I could talk about tennis balls just, unfortunately, for a long time.

Q. I want to ask on a lighter note, I am genuinely curious, though, in your post-match interview you acknowledged you played Anna in the semifinals seven years ago, and you knew that. Maybe that was in the press notes, I don't know. My question is, you've played hundreds of matches in your career. What's the recollection or how well do you remember matches against opponents, on surfaces, going back years ago? What is that like for you?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, some are very distinct, and I remember a lot. Then there's a lot that I don't remember. I think obviously deeper into a tournament you remember those tournaments more, because they're just kind of, like, bigger matches for you.

I remember playing Anna. I remember we both weren't ranked very high. Obviously now we're much more established, like, top players, but I think back then it was a really good opportunity for both of us to make the final that year.

I think it was probably the first time we played. I remember she was still dating Nick Kyrgios at the time, so he was sitting courtside, and I was, like, this is so strange, like what's going on (laughing)? I remember that.

Yeah, so you remember interesting things about certain matches. I think it just depends on the context a bit and what happened in that match. Like some straightforward matches maybe I don't remember that much, but when there is, I don't know, an asterisk next to it for whatever reason, then you tend to remember it very vividly, yeah.

Q. I think you won that year?

JESSICA PEGULA: That's the year I won, yeah, when we played in the semis.

Q. (Off microphone.)

JESSICA PEGULA: Oh, yeah, he did. Yeah, he did. I think he had to leave halfway through the match because it was hot, and he didn't want to be sitting out there, had to get ready. I don't know. I just remember that. It was funny.