Jessica Pegula began her professional tennis journey with a head start on most of her peers. In a sport as prohibitively expensive as elite tennis, her family wealth – her billionaire parents own several sports franchises, including the NFL’s Buffalo Bills – afforded her unfettered access to equipment and knowledge. Her career, however, has come to signify something else altogether.
At the age of 22, Pegula was still fluttering in and out of the top 150, stuck on the lower rungs of the ITF circuit and simply trying to figure things out. Pegula did not break into the top 100 until a couple of weeks before her 25th birthday in February 2019 and even then it seemed as if she was light years away from ever becoming a top player. She failed countless times before she began to soar.
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Today, Pegula has established herself as a veteran top 10 player and one of the most reliable members of the sport’s elite. Her success was not the result of a dramatic overnight shift – she built her confidence and convictions through her daily work and resilience over a significant period of time.
On Wednesday in Miami, Pegula will face Emma Raducanu in what is now undoubtedly the best tournament of Raducanu’s career outside her fateful US Open title run in 2021. After defeating one top-10 American player in Emma Navarro, Raducanu now has the opportunity to measure herself against one of the best in the world in her first WTA 1000 quarter-final.
Although she remains a clear underdog, the Briton should not be afraid. Their two previous matches have both been tight. Pegula won their first and only hard-court meeting in two tough sets at the Cincinnati Open in 2022, but last summer Raducanu defeated Pegula in three gruelling sets on home soil in Eastbourne to finally clinch her first ever top-10 win.
The pair share some similarities. Both possess smooth, compact strokes off each wing, effortless two-handed backhands and excellent timing, which they use to take the ball early and take time away from their opponent. Both relish smothering rivals with vicious early service returns. Only one of them, however, has come close to directing those assets into consistent winning tennis over a long period.
Pegula particularly thrives in fast conditions and few players are as adept at deflecting the power generated by her foes. One of the biggest challenges for Raducanu will be to find the right balance between imposing herself by playing offensive tennis and also keeping Pegula uncomfortable by mixing up the speed and trajectory of her ball. This week, the 22-year-old has done a great job of frustrating opponents with her backhand slice and defence, but Pegula is a level above them all.
Alongside improvements to her serve, forehand and movement, Raducanu’s three months of work with her new fitness coach, Yutaka Nakamura, the one person who has accompanied her throughout the year, appear to be paying off. She looks like a considerably stronger and more durable athlete.
Good fortune has certainly played a role in this run, with Amanda Anisimova and McCartney Kessler struggling against her with physical issues in consecutive matches. For so long, Raducanu was always the player breaking down on the court. She now looks physically prepared for all possibilities and she recovered well from a gruelling, attritional second-round win over Navarro. Against those struggling opponents, Raducanu made her own luck by refusing to allow them back into the match.
As she faces off against Pegula, there are also lessons that Raducanu, at 22 years old, can learn from her. Successful tennis careers are a marathon and each is completely different. Some players fulfil their potential at a young age but others must reckon with a far longer journey.
While the past three and a half years have at times been brutal for Raducanu, mere match wins often hard to come by, players who work hard each day will always have opportunities to turn their fortunes around. With that in mind, it is notable that Raducanu has competed more frequently this year than ever before. Even as she struggled through numerous bitter losses in recent months, to her credit she kept on rolling with the punches and showing up. This week at least, she is finally landing some of her own.
