It was already Tuesday in Sydney, Australia, but Jessica Pegula was watching “Monday Night Football” on her phone on January 3 as she waited to hit the court at the United Cup. Suddenly she felt the same sickening fear many football fans had that day, but perhaps with more resonance.
On her little device, she witnessed Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, collapse on the turf and saw the frantic moments as paramedics tried to resuscitate him and put him in an ambulance after his heart stopped beating.
She knew how crucial each of those seconds was for Hamlin, who eventually made a remarkable recovery. Her mother, Kim Pegula, the president and an owner of the Bills along with her husband, Terry Pegula, suffered a cardiac arrest in her sleep just over a year ago. Kim Pegula’s recovery has been a slow, difficult process, made even more challenging by the loss of oxygen when it happened.
Jessica Pegula was so shocked that she considered not playing in the United Cup, but eventually did. Days later at the Australian Open, she wore a number 3 patch on her outfit in honor of Hamlin. Coincidentally, No. 3 was her ranking at the time, an astonishing feat considering everything she’d been through in the past six months.
The family sat at Kim Pegula’s hospital bed for days last June. Jessica left for Wimbledon with a jumble of emotions, but also with the knowledge that this was what her mother wanted. Riddled with worry, exhausted from the previous weeks and saddled with a sinus infection, she lost in the third round.
But somehow, while her mother made steady progress, at age 28, Pegula continued to play the best tennis of her career (she turned 29 in February). She reached a Canadian Open semifinal and, for the first time, a US Open quarterfinal – her third major quarterfinal of the year. She won the Guadalajara event last October and reached another quarterfinal at the Australian Open in January. At number 4 in the world, she is the top ranked American woman.
On Sunday, she controlled one last major quarterfinal as she defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-3 in the fourth round. She has now reached the quarterfinals of each of the four major tournaments and as number 4 has a great chance to participate in her first semifinal of a Grand Slam tournament if she can beat World No. 42 Marketa Vondrousova . , on Tuesday.
Still, the past 12 months have been difficult to travel and be away from her mother, who urges Pegula to fight on, just as she has.
“She wouldn’t want me to do anything else,” Pegula said on Sunday after beating Tsurenko. “I think she would want me to keep winning and keep competing and put myself out there.”
Pegula explained how her mother, who along with Terry Pegula also owns the NHL’s Buffalo Sabers, shaped her tennis career without being overbearing. She said her mother had largely left tennis to others, but helped brainstorm ideas to help her get better and navigate the complex and unforgiving world of professional tennis. She was always inspired by her mother’s example of hard work and independent strength. Now, she says, her mom takes inspiration from watching her on the track.
In a article in The Players’ Tribune in February, Pegula revealed for the first time the events surrounding her mother’s illness and recovery, and outlined how she played for her. On Sunday, after her latest win, she spoke of the strength and motivation they draw from each other.
“She wants to see me on TV,” Jessica Pegula said on Sunday. “I think that also inspires her in her recovery, to see me still playing there.”
And play well. Now healthy after injuries disrupted her progression through the ranks, Pegula has cashed in on healthy consistency, her current No. 4 ranking placing her just behind the newly crowned Big Three of No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3. Elena Rybakina.
Pegula expresses no outward resentment that she has not been accepted into their ranks, but she makes it clear that she aims to shake up the perception that the top women’s tour is a triad.
“I would definitely like to crash the Big Three party, if possible,” she said. “That would certainly be a goal. I mean, those girls played really well.
All those women are at least four years younger than Pegula. She was asked if experience had led to her recent success, but she insisted that health was more important. Her career has been stalled by a knee injury and hip surgery, and rehabbing in the gym is an experience different from competing on the field.
She also said her consistency was no coincidence. When she reached her first major quarterfinal, at the 2021 Australian Open, she was determined not to let everything go to waste in the ensuing tournament in Doha, Qatar. She was ranked 44th at the time and needed to win three qualifying rounds to compete in that event, eventually winning six consecutive matches before falling to No. 4 Petra Kvitova in the final.
“I don’t want to be that person who made it to the quarterfinals of a Slam and then loses the first round,” she said, adding, “That gives me a lot of confidence.”
She has now reached the quarterfinals in five of the last seven Grand Slam events and is only the fifth American to reach the quarterfinals in all four majors in the past 25 years, joining Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys. that Monday a quarterfinal by defeating 16-year-old Russian phenom Mirra Andreeva in three sets.
For Pegula, when her tournament ends, it’s a chance to go back to the United States and, time permitting, see her mother. But soon after, with the hard court season underway, she’ll be back on the court with Kim Pegula watching. Jessica Pegula said her mother didn’t like being coddled.
“She’s like, ‘Go do your thing,'” she said.