Jessica Pegula came incredibly close to toppling Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open semi-final, and the star’s coach has revealed her reaction to the narrow defeat.
Pegula was beaten in a third-set decider by Sabalenka, who went on to lift the US Open, in a contest that truly could have gone either way.
Nevertheless, Pegula’s US Open campaign was impressive as she was knocked out by the World No. 1 for the second consecutive year.
Pegula’s coach, Mark Knowles, has revealed the American’s immediate reaction to losing to the eventual champion.
Jessica Pegula was encouraged after US Open semi-final defeat to Aryna Sabalenka
Pegula was defeated with one break of serve in the third set of the semi-final in the US Open by Sabalenka, at a time when the American looked dominant on serve.
“It’s really tough, you know, as you mentioned, I mean, the level was so high, and for us, you know, for Jess to play our best tennis, she has to be moving well,” said Knowles in an interview with The Tennis Channel.
Pegula dominated several stats in the clash, including service points and net points won, which left both Knowles and Pegula satisfied.
“You know, so you look at a lot of stats from the match and you’d be a little bit confused to think that Jess lost the match, but, you know, it’s the beauty of our sport,” said Knowles.
“You’ve just got to continue to improve, not get discouraged,” he added, before revealing how Pegula reacted to the loss.
“I think Jess walked away, you know, believe it or not, she’s so stable, you guys know her really well,” he explained. “She’s pretty level headed, she’s a great competitor.”
“You know, of course, there was disappointment after that semi-final loss, but I think she also had a level of encouragement, knowing that, you know, she was doing all the things we’ve been working so hard on, movement, using the slides, looking to move forward, serving well.”
Pegula is set to play the Billie Jean King Cup finals from September 16, where the United States will begin against Kazakhstan.
Jessica Pegula is edging closer to a Grand Slam, but will it come?
Pegula is firmly inside the WTA Tour top 10 rankings and often makes the latter stages of Grand Slam tournaments.
The star has reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon, as well as the final of the US Open.
At 31 years old, Pegula is just three years away from Flavia Pennetta’s age when she became the oldest Grand Slam winner in women’s history at the 2015 US Open at 33 years and 199 days old.
There’s every chance the American does win a Grand Slam in her career, but Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek’s dominance makes it difficult.
