US OPEN

September 4, 2026

Jessica Pegula

Press Conference

J. PEGULA/L. Fernandez

1-6, 6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on moving on. Slow start, strong finish. Your thoughts?

JESSICA PEGULA: That's pretty much the summary right there: Slow start, strong finish.

Yeah, I didn't start off very well. It was tough. I had to dig deep there in the second to turn that around, and it very well could have not turned around.

I'm just happy that I was able to find something there in the second and then I think play, you know, much better going into the third.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. How are you able to kind of reset after a rough first set? You do that better than most. Is there something you tell yourself going into the second, get more balls in, et cetera, or how are you able to do that?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, you know, it's tough. I think sometimes you almost kind of loosen up a little bit. You know, I mean, the set I played today, I was, like, can't honestly be that much worse. It was pretty not great on all those stats and everything.

So I was, like, it can't be that much worse. I'm going to have to find kind of something here, and I think I always tell myself just to try and hang on to my serve. I think that's something that's always important just to keep yourself in that set and then try and give yourself chances on return.

To me it's definitely focusing on my service game and kind of just honing in on that and then taking maybe a little bit more risk on the return games.

I think I knew my strategy. I think she played a bit different than I've played her in the past, especially this year in Miami. She played a little bit further back. I think she was kind of mixing up the spins and, I don't know, maybe not playing what I expected.

So I just kind of had to tell myself that, you know, she is playing a little bit different, but you still know what you have to execute, and I just tried to focus on that.

Q. With regard to your serve, I know you work really hard on placement variety and have improved in that area quite a bit. The analogy of a server being a pitcher, is there such a thing as a straight change where you just drop 20 miles per hour off a first serve and can actually get maybe soft contact you're looking for, or is that not in a tennis player's...

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know enough about baseball to know, like, that term. But, yeah, I mean, that's how my coaches have taught me, especially, even my last coach, as well, with David, we worked on you have to be a baseball pitcher and change the speeds.

I think especially girls, we're very good returners, and so I think that, especially like us, if we get into a rhythm, it can almost be the better serve you hit, the better the return comes, it comes back faster because it gets there faster. A lot of girls are really good at using the pace. So I definitely think that there is something to changing the speeds.

I mean, I think today, even like my wide serve on the deuce side hitting it maybe, like, 85 miles an hour, that's a really tough changeup, and then you leave the T open, and I'm able to maybe go for that T serve. It keeps people really off balance.

So I don't know if it's exactly what you're saying, but there is definitely something with changing the speeds and the spins.

I think that's another reason I struggled a bit with Leylah today is because it's a lefty. Now, all of a sudden, the spin is going the opposite way. Now she's hitting a serve that I haven't seen in a few weeks.

It's definitely something I always look at as far as being, like, a baseball pitcher. That's what my coaches always tell me. I've got to kind of use every serve that I have.

Q. You mentioned the stats were also bad. You were like 4 for 12 to start on first serve. Do pros think, Okay, I'm going to make my next 8, or do you ever panic, like, Oh, my God, I can't get anything in?

JESSICA PEGULA: It's weird. The serve is a really hard shot, to be honest. It's really hard to do. I mean, if you take a beginner or someone that doesn't really play tennis, I feel like the No. 1 thing that's hard to do is serve. It's really hard.

I mean, for me, it's one of those things where I have to, like, accelerate and still go after it. Sometimes if you're missing a lot of serves you might think, okay, I should just make the serve and get it in, but sometime that's a little counterintuitive to someone that's serving is you want to still go up after it. You don't want to slow down, because then sometimes that can make your serve worse.

So it's really hard in the moment, when you have a stat like that, to know, like, okay, do I keep going after it, do I take a little bit off of it, do I just give myself more margin.

Where is she standing? Is she standing and covering this serve? Is she covering a serve that I don't want to hit that's low percentage? There is a lot of different things that are going on.

For me, today, I think I started changing speeds a little bit better and I think also just focusing on, like, what serve I was going to hit and then the next ball coming back.

So I think planning a little bit better, that okay, I know if I hit this serve, she's probably going to return here, and I have a better chance at the first ball.

So I think for me it was more just focusing on it. I think now my serve that it's gotten better, I still show up to matches and I'm serving like it's not quite a weapon and sometimes maybe not trusting it. That's something that I'm still working on. I think everyone is always working on that.

But yeah, sometimes it's just a little bit not going up after it and not trusting it like you should.

Q. With Labor Day upon us, how would you describe your development of a work ethic and what that work ethic's importance is to everything about your tennis?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, I think I like to say that I'm probably, I like to think, I'm one of the harder workers out there. I mean, I definitely am at the point where my coaches have to tell me to, like, stop, because I would be out there hitting serves for an hour after or returns or something that I didn't feel was right.

I have learned over the years to work a little bit smarter and not as hard. I do think that's probably one of the reasons, you know, I've gotten to where I am today.

I think my parents definitely instilled a hard, tough work ethic in me from a young age, so I have never shied away from putting in the hours. To me, I felt like, yeah, I feel I had to, and I felt like, I don't know, it was fun. I think I'm just a super-driven individual in general, doing something that I love to do, and then just wanting to keep working on it and seeing those results is something that's always motivated me.

Q. You brought your Mini Aussie onto the stage in Charleston. How special is it to share your career milestones with your dogs? Do you feel like that balance makes you a more grounded competitor on the court?

JESSICA PEGULA: I think animals are amazing. I mean, I have a charity for service dogs for that reason, is for how much they can help people. I think that's why a lot of girls are traveling with more pets now because how tough the life is on the road.

To have something that grounds you, as simple as having a dog or any type of animal, it's just, you don't experience that type of love from anybody else, to be honest (smiling). I think they love you unconditionally, and that can just emotionally just really help.

Yeah, I mean, I love having my dogs. I love having my pets whenever I can bring them. I don't travel with them as much as some of the other girls because they are a little bit bigger and they're a little bit more of a hassle to travel with.

I think it's really cool, and it's really special when you can look back and say you've won a couple of titles and you have your dog there with you. You know, many years from now when my dog probably isn't around, I'll always have those special memories. I think that makes it really sweet.

Q. Do you think that the tournament, which has a really unique atmosphere, could do a better job of maybe managing what sometimes feels like a disconnect between what's happening in the stadiums and on the court with the crowds and playing a tennis match?

JESSICA PEGULA: You mean like with the influencers and just, like, sponsors and...

Q. Marijuana wafting in, Sabalenka's match today, she had to talk to the umpire. Can you talk about that a little bit?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I think it -- I mean, it makes it fun, because it makes it New York that it's so kind of all over the place and chaotic.

But yeah, I do think of course that there are things that maybe could be better suited towards helping the match be a tennis match and not letting other factors kind of interfere.

But also, I'm one of those people that is just like things are going to happen, and I feel like as long as someone can come in and, like, fix those things, then that's okay. I don't know what happened in her situation, but as long as they could resolve the problem, that's great.

You know, if something is flashing or there's people taking pictures, Hey, you're not supposed to do that. Okay, great. They stop doing that.

I think I've learned that with these big events and with all these tournaments that there is always going to be an outlying situation that sometimes is a little bit out of your control, and so I think as long as it is taken care of, then I feel like that's good. Problems are going to happen.

But yeah, I mean, obviously the weed thing, I don't know how you really stop that.

Q. Could there by fan education about what it's like to watch a tennis match?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, I mean, I think as far as like the influencer things, of course, I think as they maybe go to more tennis matches, they learn more of the tennis etiquette they probably don't know. That's something that comes with them just being taught that.

But yeah, I mean, tennis etiquette, it's something you have to learn as you go to these events. Obviously the smoking weed, you probably just shouldn't do that. I feel like that should be a known thing.

It could have just been some random outlying person on a break is smoking behind the stadium that no one even knows.

But yeah, I mean, I think as far as the other stuff, that's just etiquette. Hopefully now that there has been some attention towards it that maybe now when they do come to matches they'll be a little bit more informed.