Jessica Pegula is ‘excited’ about her improvement ahead of her Australian Open quarter-final with Amanda Anisimova.
It was a stunning performance from Pegula as she knocked out defending champion Madison Keys 6-3 6-4.
Despite a late surge from Keys, Pegula produced an impressive performance to reach the last eight in Melbourne.
After the match Pegula was relieved to get through and spoke about the importance of keeping her concentration in important moments, “Happy with the way I was able to serve I think on some really big key points, execute my strategy,” Pegula started her press conference by saying.
“You know, I have been seeing, hitting, moving, I feel like very well this whole tournament, and to be able to keep that up against such a great player as Maddie and defending champion was going to be a lot tougher of a task today, but I think I was still able to do that really well.
“I think for me it was really important to focus on my serve. It was very tough on that one side serving into the sun. So, you know, I lost that game. And I was kind of, like, you know what, I wasn’t trying to get too down on myself. I was just kind of, like, serving into the sun, it’s tough. She hit a couple good shots, whatever. Just don’t dwell on it that much.
“But obviously going back to kind of close it out, I needed to really stay focused now that I had a feeling of what it was like to serve into it, maybe what serves that were a little easier to hit. I think just keep my feet moving, keep my body weight going forward. I think sometimes when you get a little nervous or, you know, maybe — I was playing really well, and sometimes you kind of just relax, and it’s hard to do that against someone like Maddie who can flip matches really quickly by hitting a couple of big forehands and winners, and all of a sudden she hits a couple good serves, and it’s already back to even.
“So I just wanted to kind of keep my momentum moving forward, keep everything moving forward, because no matter what happened, that was how I kind of needed to get the momentum back into the match. That’s really all I was focusing on. I thought I played a couple good points and focused on my serve. And not just my serve, but also serve and first ball, where I thought she was going to return so I could be ready for that first ball, you know, and not really give her any free points.”
It used to be that Pegula would struggle to get into latter stages of Grand Slam events but is now into her ninth Grand Slam quarter-final.
Speaking on her Grand Slam record Pegula doesn’t understand the negativity towards her reaching the last eight of a Grand Slam consistently, “Not really. I mean, again, that was something I felt like everyone else kind of came up with. I felt like if I’m making quarters of a slam, that’s pretty good,” Pegula acknowledged.
“So I never really understood like the negativity towards it, or I guess just the headline of, you know, how does she get past the quarters? I mean, the fact that I’m putting myself in that many positions I feel like is a feat in itself. I didn’t really quite understand that. So to me, not really.
“Being back in a quarter I think, you know, obviously US Open, I did finals, made semis, and that felt like normal. So to me it doesn’t really feel like that much different. I think maybe even now I’m even more comfortable knowing that I’ve gotten further, it doesn’t feel, I don’t know, as big of a deal to be in the quarters, even though that’s really good, you know? I don’t know. I guess I don’t think about it that much.”
At 31 years of age Pegula’s results seem to be getting better not worse and the American admitted that is exciting that her improvement is still on a progressive path, “Obviously, there are some that maybe stood out that you played unbelievable, but I think in general, I feel like I’m a better player right now,” Pegula confidently claimed.
“I feel like I have so many more tools. I think that my movement has gotten better. I think my serve is a lot better than it used to be, and that really helped me today. I think I’m just overall a better player. It doesn’t always mean that you’re going to win the match, but I do feel like, you know, playing against all these girls with the depth, I think I have a lot more tools to kind of figure out a way to win. You know, I have worked really hard on that over the last year, and it’s a tough balance trying to push yourself.
“Even though you’re already doing well, how do you kind of get a little bit better but not kind of take yourself out of how you play? I’m just really happy that the work that I’ve done with my coaches, you know, I really believe in that and what we have done, and to be able to kind of execute that stuff in a Grand Slam, you know, right off quickly, second tournament of the year for me, I think will give me a lot of confidence, not just here but just going into the year. For me, I have always been the type of player where I get frustrated when I feel like I’m not getting better.
“And I still think that, you know, at my age, I’ve already had a lot of really great results. Being 31, I still feel like I’m improving as a player. So that is what gets me the most excited.”
Pegula will hope to continue her momentum when she takes on Wimbledon and US Open finalist Amanda Anisimova on Wednesday.
