By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday October 24, 2022
The 28-year-old won her biggest title to get our nod for Player of the Week honors.
Photo Source: Getty
Each week, in conjunction with our friends at Tennis Express, we bring you two players – one from the WTA Tour and one from the ATP Tour – whose star shined brighter than any other.
American Jessica Pegula takes the honors this week.
The 28-year-old Buffalo native has been extraordinary all season, making her Top-10 debut after Roland-Garros, reaching three major quarterfinals in singles, and now – after claiming her biggest career title on Sunday in Guadalajara – climbing all the way to No.3 in the WTA rankings.
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Pegula has also been magnificent on the doubles court, where she has partnered with Coco Gauff to rise inside the top five of the rankings – the American currently sits at No.3 as well.
There is so much to like about Pegula’s season, and on so many levels. If you are a fan of late bloomers and analytical thinkers on the tennis court, then the American is a player you should root for. It took Pegula until March of 2021 to crack the Top-50 (she was 27 at the time) and in a little over 18 months, thanks in part to the coaching of David Witt, Venus Williams’ former coach, she has pushed that ranking all the way to No.3.
Pegula has done it with grit, determination and flat, menacing groundstrokes off of both wings.
Her stats don’t always jump off the page, but Pegula finds ways to put up wins with alarming regularity. She is one of just four players to own 40 or more wins on tour this season (also Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur and Daria Kasatkina) and, after winning the trophy in Guadalajara, is proving that she can stand out against the toughest competition as well.
Pegula saved three match points before taking out 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in her first match in Mexico, then took out Bianca Andreescu, Sloane Stephens, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sakkari to clinch the title.
"Just a lot of emotions, but super excited just to get a big title next to my name,” Pegula said, after claiming her second career title. “That was something I really wanted this year, and I kept saying it was one of my goals, so to be able to accomplish it at the end of the year is really cool.”
Read how the American summed up her victory over Sakkari, and you begin to see how she benefits from her understanding of the game. Her week, and season, have been defined by a series of good decisions, well-executed tactics, mental toughness, grit and guile.
"I thought I just played really solid, I didn’t really make a lot of silly errors or stupid decisions,” she said. “I served really smart, I returned well. There were a lot of different points where I had to maybe slice and come in, or serve and volley, or do something different, and I just didn’t panic, I just kind of did what I had to do to win the point, and it was working."
Pegula will next head to the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, where she will make her debut. With so much confidence on board, she may make her next big splash there.