Jessica Pegula commitment to hard work turned her

INDIAN WELLS — Jessica Pegula never needed tennis.

She merely stored exhibiting up for it anyway, through the long and often nameless slog of the skilled tour.

Now 32 and the oldest participant in the top 10, Pegula is having her best season start yet.

The fifth-ranked American reached the Australian Open semifinals for the first time in January, falling to eventual champion Elena Rybakina. She adopted that by capturing the Dubai 1000-level event, just a rung below the majors.

She is 15-2 so far in 2026, tied with Victoria Mboko in match wins and second only to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina (17-3), who she defeated 6-2, 6-4 in the Dubai last.

Pegula is assured to emerge from this week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as the top-ranked American, overtaking No. 4 Coco Gauff, if she reaches the ultimate.

First, she can have to get past No. 12-seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, her fourth-round opponent on Wednesday. Bencic has not dropped a set in 4 earlier conferences with Pegula.

“That will be a challenge for me,” said the characteristically even-keeled Pegula after defeating former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the third spherical on Monday.

A late bloomer, Pegula has taken the long highway.

She failed to qualify for Grand Slam main attracts in 12 of 14 makes an attempt from 2011 to 2018, and didn’t attain the third spherical at a major until the 2020 U.S. Open at age 26. All three of her Grand Slam semifinal runs — along with her 2024 U.S. Open last — have come after she turned 30.

Pegula said this week that her endurance and persistence stem from “always being a little more mature for my age even when I was younger.”

“I think as I’ve gotten older, your perspective changes as well,” she added.

Pegula, whose dad and mom are principal homeowners of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, acknowledges that her rich household background can cut two methods.

Financial security gives freedom to push through the game’s early years on tour, when outcomes are unsure and the grind is relentless. That same cushion may make it simpler to stroll away if the climb turns into too irritating.

Jessica Pegula performs a backhand against Donna Vekic during their match at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

(Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

Pegula says her motivation to pursue tennis got here nicely before her household’s fortune grew.

“I’ve been wanting to be a professional tennis player and No. 1 in the world since I was like 7,” she said in a small interview room after beating Ostapenko this week.

“It’s a privilege, but at the same time I don’t want to do myself a disservice of not taking the opportunity as well,” she explained. “I’ve always looked at it that way.”

In the last few seasons, that maturity on the court has dovetailed with a growing management function off it.

Pegula has served for years on the WTA Player Council and was not too long ago tapped to chair the tour’s new Tour Architecture Council, a working group tasked with inspecting the more and more demanding schedule and structural pressures gamers say have intensified in latest seasons. The panel is predicted to explore adjustments that may reshape the calendar and participant workload in coming years.

Pegula said she hadn’t put up her hand to be concerned but agreed after a number of gamers approached her to take the lead function — though she declined to say who they have been.

“I think maybe as you mature … you realize how important it is to give back to the sport,” she said last week.

Life has also supplied grounding and a wider lens.

Pegula’s mom, Kim, suffered a critical cardiac arrest in 2022, a state of affairs she mentioned in element in a shifting 2023 essay for “The Players’ Tribune.”

The Buffalo native and Florida resident also married businessman Taylor Gahagen in 2021. Gahagen helps “holds down the fort” at home with the couple’s canines and travels with her when attainable. He is with her in Indian Wells.

“I have an amazing support system,” Pegula says.

Despite profitable 10 WTA singles titles, attaining a profession singles high of No. 3 in 2022 and the No. 1 doubles rating, Pegula’s low-key demeanor means she flies a bit under the radar.

She’s not one for fashion statements, outlandish antics or attention-seeking initiatives, her joint podcast with close pal Madison Keys however.

Instead, Pegula tends to go about her business quietly, relying on a calm temperament and a methodical type that wears opponents down over time.

She will get the job achieved — the Tim Duncan of the ladies’s tour.

“She’s just all about lacing them up and competing between the lines, and then trying to be as big an asset as she can to her peers off the court,” says Mark Knowles, the previous doubles standout who has shared teaching duties with Mark Merklein since early 2024.

“I think one of her great attributes is she’s very level-headed,” Knowles provides. “She doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low.”

Her tennis identification echoes her steadiness.

Instead of bludgeoning opponents with energy, the 5-foot-7 Pegula beats them with savvy, steadiness and tactical selection. A cautious pupil of the sport, she research matchups and patrols the court with a composed effectivity that incrementally drains big hitters and outmaneuvers most rivals long before the ultimate rating confirms it.

Keys calls that consistency her “superpower.”

“She doesn’t lose matches that she shouldn’t lose,” the 2025 Australian Open champion said this week.

Because of accidents in the early half of her profession, Knowles says Pegula might need less wear-and-tear than other gamers her age. And he and her crew have prioritized relaxation and recovery, which included the choice to skip the event in Doha last month following her tiring Australian Open run.

On model, there was no panic in Pegula after dropping the first set in her two matches so far at Indian Wells. As she’s achieved all season, she steadied herself to earn three-set wins.

Bucket-list objectives stay, however. Chiefly, capturing a Grand Slam title.

Jessica Pegula returns a shot to Jelena Ostapenko during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Monday.

(Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

Pegula jokes that she briefly interrupted a run of American feminine success when she fell in the 2024 U.S. Open last to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. But seeing close pal and teenage phenom Keys seize her major in Melbourne last yr — after many questioned if her window had handed — hit nearer to home.

“I think Madison winning Australia just motivated me even more,” Pegula says.

Although Pegula believes she is among the best hardcourt gamers in girls’s tennis, that confidence hasn’t translated into success in the California desert. She has reached the quarterfinals just once in 10 earlier appearances in Indian Wells.

“Why not try and add that one to the resume?” says Knowles, noting that she had never received the title in Dubai until last month. “She’s playing still at a very high level.”

Pegula says the key to retaining issues recent is sustaining her love of the sport by persevering with to improve and experiment with new concepts, a course of that retains her engaged mentally and keen to compete.

“I’m not afraid to kind of take that risk of changing and working on different things,” she says, “which just keeps my mind working and problem solving.”

For a participant who never needed tennis, she stays decided to see how a lot more it can provide her.