Jessica Pegula reveals why she ‘played it safe’ during ‘crazy year’
Just over two months after she last played on the WTA Tour, Jessica Pegula made a successful return to action and she is now ready for the long haul.
Pegula made a poor start to the 2024 season as she suffered an early exit from the Australian Open but her form started to pick up during the North American hard-court stint but her progress was then shunted by injury.
She suffered a rib injury and the problem worsened during her Billie Jean King Cup participation, eventually forcing her to skip the entire clay-court season.
It was an easy decision, but it was the right one with Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics on the horizon.
“The treatment for both of them is the same. So let’s take the safe route, treat it like a stress fracture. It’s just such a crazy year with the Olympics squeezed in,” she explained.
“With my game, I’d rather be ready for grass and the rest of the hard-court season and grind out the rest of the year, than try and push it for clay and it doesn’t feel well. That’s why we played it safe.”
The American added: “We were training as though I was going to play the French, but it was just a little too soon. I’ve been healthy for a few weeks now. If French had started a week later I would have been there for sure.”
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Pegula returned to action at the Libema Open on Tuesday as she won her opener 6-2, 6-2 against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Besides not being able to play at the French Open, Pegula also missed two big WTA 1000 events as she didn’t compete at the Madrid Open and the Italian Open.
Despite her lengthy absence, the American still finds herself at No 5 in the WTA Rankings but those behind her are now much closer.
“I know in the long term I can play at a high level and I know I don’t need to play those matches to feel like a top player, but at the same time when you see all those people going ahead of you, you do freak out a little bit,” she said.
“I still have major anxiety that I’ve missed so many WTA 1000s this year and I have a great record at 1000s.”
Although she doesn’t have any points to defend at this week’s WTA 250 event in Rosmalen, there is plenty on the spell on grass in the coming weeks as she reached the quarter-final in Eastbourne last year (100 points) as well as last eight at Wimbledon.
She is next scheduled to play at the WTA 500 Berlin Open, which will also feature world No 1 Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.
