Jessica Pegula fulfills her dream of reaching the Grand Slam final late in life. Her famous father is also rooting for the US hopeful.
by SID
last edited: 06.09.2024, 17:05
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Jessica Pegula is just one step away from winning the big time at the 2024 US Open.
Jessica Pegula looked at the huge video wall in the Arthur Ashe Arena – and immediately spotted her proud father. It was hardly surprising that at the moment of her greatest success, the director also showed her father Terry Pegula, who is a real celebrity as a billionaire and owner of two major sports teams in the USA. And he applauded proudly.
“It’s great. I have a lot of friends and my family here. Of course, my husband too,” said Pegula with a smile after her 1:6, 6:4, 6:2 victory against the Czech Karolina Muchova: “The fact that I have the chance to win the title in my home country, here at my home tournament, is really perfect.”
On Saturday (10 p.m. CEST/Sky and WOW), the 30-year-old will fight for the big coup against favorite Aryna Sabalenka with the support of the crowd. She is the oldest American in the era of professional tennis since 1968 to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time. And she wants to do her part to make it to a historic doubles success. In the men’s competition, too, it was clear before Taylor Fritz’s semifinal against Frances Tiafoe that a local hero would reach the final.
Pegula has been working towards her big moment for a long time, for many years. She has had to deal with setbacks in her sport time and again, only making it into the top 100 in 2019 and failing six times in the quarterfinals of majors before breaking the spell against world number one Iga Swiatek. The fact that she was constantly defined by her father also weighed on Pegula at times: “Tennis is my thing, it’s my job, it’s my career.”
Terry Pegula is the owner of the NFL team Buffalo Bills, beating out rival candidates Donald Trump and Jon Bon Jovi in 2014. Three years earlier, he had already taken over the NHL ice hockey team Buffalo Sabres. Jessica Pegula once said that she found inspiration in American football. She tried to transfer “the grit, the competitive attitude and the mentality” to her game.
She will need a lot of courage against Sabalenka. The two-time Australian Open winner and last year’s finalist in New York is “obviously a really great hard court player,” said Pegula after her victory against Muchova: “I have to be aggressive like I have in the past, get her moving, serve cleverly and try to put pressure on her serve.”
Last year, Coco Gauff disenchanted the Belarusian and made the fans in New York cheer. Now Pegula sees her big moment has arrived.
