Jessica Pegula opens up on her split from coach David Witt
Jessica Pegula says that it would have been very easy for her to continue her relationship with coach David Witt.
However, the American star believes that she has reached a point in her career where she has to take some risks.
Pegula believes that her coaching arrangement was part of the reason that she has plateaued.
Witt and Pegula came together in 2019 and the coach helped her achieve two WTA 1000 titles in Guadalajara in 2022 and Montreal in 2023.
Pegula’s inability to progress beyond a Grand Slam quarter-final has been the notable frustration of her time with Witt although she hadn’t been beyond the second round of a Slam when they joined forces.
“It definitely does [feel like a new beginning],” Pegula told a press conference at Indian Wells.
“David and I obviously had a lot of success and what we were able to accomplish together was pretty amazing but I think having started with him when I was maybe 25, and then being 30 this year, I think I’m just in a much different place – a different ranking, a different place personally and career-wise.”
Pegula added that she didn’t want to look back on her career and regret not taking any big risks that could have been game-changers.
“I just felt like I needed to take some chances,” she said. “I’m 30 – not that being 30 is the end – and I think I just didn’t want to look back and be like ‘maybe I should have tried someone else, or tried something different.’”
Pegula believes that being comfortable at this stage of her career could lead to her going backwards.
She doesn’t feel that there was anything about her game that is crying out to be fixed either but simply wants to push herself a little bit more.
“Obviously I’d been successful, it’s not like I’d been losing and I needed to change something,” she said.
“More or less, it was just me wanting to make a change and I felt like it came pretty naturally. It wasn’t anything bad, it was just more me starting a little bit of a new chapter in my career.
“I think it was just more to keep pushing myself, and I didn’t want to feel too comfortable.
“I kind of wanted to change things up and I think being uncomfortable makes you learn new things and pushes you in new directions and can be really helpful.”
