“I put a lot of pressure on and dragged out a lot of his service games, and I know from personal experience that he’s really hard to hold on to,” Pegula said after the match. “It can definitely take its toll, physically and mentally, and because it was a little hot, I was able to move a little bit better.”
Three years ago, there was a different Pegula vying to compete in DC In 2019, the last time the Citi Open held a WTA event, Pegula’s first and only singles win on the WTA Tour came at Rock Creek Park and helped define his burgeoning career.
That year seemed to be a mixed bag for the Buffalo native. Her first entry into the WTA top 100 took her to a top-75 spot when she defeated then-No. 12 Anastasija Sevastova at the Charleston Open, but those highs were clouded by back-to-back first-round exits at the London Open. France and Wimbledon, his first main draw appearances at any of the Grand Slams.
And on the court, Pegula was dealing with an identity crisis. He recalled the criticism he received back then, of appearing negative or “like he didn’t want to be there” during matches, so he tried to counter that by artificially infusing punches, wild maneuvers and other unnatural bursts of energy into his game. .
By his own admission, he wasn’t playing the way he wanted to.
“I would be too energetic or try to be too much, then I would be exhausted because I would be wasting all this energy, doing all these things,” Pegula said. “And naturally, I’m not really like that.”
Pegula decided to take full control of her career. He hired a new coach, David Witt, who had just finished a long spell coaching Venus Williams. He began planning his own training regimens and booking his own trainers. For a time, he was even his own agent, booking his own trips and signing up for tournaments.
In the midst of that process, Pegula realized that whether she was returning a service or booking a flight to France, she was still Jessica Pegula.
“That [process] let me not think about who I am on the court,” Pegula explained, “because now I was like, ‘Oh, I’m responsible for my own career.’ And that is, I think, how I always wanted it to be.”
The 2019 Citi Open was his first week and his first tournament with Witt as his coach. During a routine practice before the event, Witt said something that stuck with Pegula.
“There’s no reason why you can’t win this tournament,” Witt told him.
With a new perspective on her career and a new coach in her corner, Pegula found Witt right: there was no reason why she couldn’t claim her first WTA title. And with a straight-sets loss to Camila Giorgi in the final, that’s exactly what she did.
During the trophy ceremony, her Miniature Australian Shepherd, Maddie, ran onto the pitch and hugged her, creating a lasting image of the turn Pegula’s career was taking.
“He changed a little bit from that week, trying to get better every day but also saying, ‘There’s no reason you can’t be at the top of the game,'” he reflected. “And now here we are, a few years later, and I’m at my highest ranking: top 10 in the world.”
It’s the refreshed Pegula who arrived in DC last weekend as the defending Citi Open champion, reaching three Grand Slam quarterfinals in the past two years and reaching the pinnacle of American tennis at the relatively old age of 28. And although Pegula said her dog would not be making the trip to the capital, the changes of the past three years were on display on Monday.
Criticisms about his supposed negativity and carelessness have, in his experience, taken a complete 180 turn.
“People come up to me and say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so calm and you’re so confident and you have such a great attitude towards you,'” she said. “And I just laugh because it was the opposite for so long and it was so frustrating to hear.”
And it showed on the field. Facing a hostile crowd rooting for a local hero, Pegula never seemed flustered or overwhelmed against Baptiste, rather she kept her form steady and her face measured. She only seemed to get better as the match went on, using every other length and break point as a way to gain the advantage.
“It was difficult [for Baptiste], coming back from injury,” said Frances Tiafoe, a Hyattsville native and No. 27 in the ATP rankings, who was watching the match from the stands. “Pegula is a great friend of mine, she is among the top 10 in the world and is playing some of the best tennis of her life. It was always going to be a tough competition.”
Pegula threw only the slightest of raised fists after each hard-won point, and only in victory did the best American in the world let a soft smile spread across her face.