Jessica Pegula has admitted that she enjoys the process of improving her game as she hailed her consistency ahead of a quarter-final showdown with Elena Rybakina at Indian Wells.
The American’s red-hot form continued as she defeated Belinda Bencic 6-3 7-6 to book her place in the last eight.
Having lost her previous four matches to Bencic, Pegula admitted it felt good to get one over the Swiss, “Really happy with today, being able to turn around my pretty poor record against Belinda,” Pegula started her press conference by saying.
“So, you know, when you’re able to figure that out and get over that hump, it’s always a good feeling. Just excited that I was able to, yeah, accept that challenge and figure it out. I felt pretty good out there today. I think it did get a tiny bit windy with the wind. It was a little tough serving against the wind, especially because we return so well, so when we were kind of sitting on returns and hitting our spots and moving forward, it was tough to defend on that side.
“But, you know, I think she’s had some pretty good results here. I haven’t played horrible here, but maybe not one of my better tournaments of my career. Yeah, I don’t know. I think it’s more just learning how to figure it out and depending on what time you play and the matchups that you play on certain days and how the weather is.”
It was a slow start to Pegula’s career as she struggled to break into tennis’ elite until her last 20s but now the American has found a winning formula.
As she enters part of tennis’ elite Pegula outlined what has changed in her career that has led to a late resurgence, “I wasn’t really on tour playing that much from maybe 20 to 24. I had a couple of surgeries, I was rehabbing, I was hurt. So I do feel like not having those years on me maybe is why I don’t necessarily feel old,” Pegula explained.
“But I think right now I’m just very open to learning, I’m always very open to trying new things. I think one of the strengths I have as an athlete is probably being able to change something and implement it very quickly. I think that’s something too even my coaches now have kind of seen over the last couple years. I was very open to trying to figure things out, how do I get things better, watching other players, watching what players do really well, and trying to implement certain things into my game and seeing if I can do the same thing.
“Sometimes that can be scary I think for coaches because they don’t necessarily want to change too much, you don’t want to change your game completely and then be upset when it doesn’t work out. I’m definitely one where I can pick up things very quickly, and we have been able to change some things that aren’t major that maybe the fans or people can’t necessarily exactly pinpoint. But it’s definitely stuff we have been working on, and I have been able to implement it into my game over the last couple years really quickly, and not afraid to kind of fail and try different things, whether it’s with my serve or my forehand or my slice or different strategies.
“I think that, in a way, has kept my brain kind of just always working and problem-solving. That’s just how I play my best tennis, that’s how I feel like I’m getting better, that’s how I enjoy playing tennis. I always want to feel like I’m learning and I’m trying things. I never want to feel like when I retire that I wish I would have tried this on my serve or this string on, you know, this racquet, or whatever the case may be.
“I think that’s probably my strength as a player and just how I kind of look at, you know, my career and how I’m still improving, even at my age.”
Although Pegula hasn’t won many big titles, the American has a habit of always being in latter stages of tournaments week after week.
Speaking on her consistency Pegula praised her ability to want to constantly improve as she targets success in California, “I think before, it used to be kind of, like, maybe I didn’t win, I’m not winning all those tournaments and stuff, but I think it’s just as hard and challenging to be that consistent as it is just to like one off and win one tournament a week,” Pegula analysed.
“Even though obviously you play to win tournaments, I do think I have taken a little bit more pride in how I’m able to show up every single match week in, week out, and be able to be right there every single week. I want to keep going further in those tournaments and further here, but I’m not really sure what it is.
“I think I don’t have a lot of highs and I don’t have a lot of lows. Whenever I do, I think I snap out of it very quickly, and I get back to work and get back to working on things and improving things. I enjoy that process a lot. So I think maybe that keeps me mentally a little bit more fresh week in and week out.”
Pegula will hope that constant improvement continues when she faces Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals of Indian Wells.
Heading into the match, Rybakina leads 4-3 having won the Australian Open semi-finals in a tight straight sets contest.
