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American tennis sensation Jessica Pegula has had a phenomenal season. The 28-year-old won the Guadalajara Open, losing to eventual winner Iga Swiatek at both the San Diego Open and the US Open. She also lost the summit clash of the Madrid Open to Ons Jabeur. However, her sensational season ended on a bitter note as Pegula lost all her group stage matches at the WTA Finals.
By virtue of her exceptional form in the current season, Jessica Pegula finished the season at No. 3. This also marks the first time that she will finish the year with a ranking within the top 15. Pegula reacted to a social media post of the same on Instagram.
"It’s definitely challenging but at the same time if you take it the right way it can be extremely motivating" - Jessica Pegula on beating the top seeds of a tournament
Jessica Pegula hit the news quite often this year, all thanks to her brilliant tennis display throughout the year. The World No. 3 is perhaps the most hardworking player in women's tennis, and she has quietly put together an extraordinarily solid 2022 season.
On the eve of the WTA Finals, the 28-year-old American won the biggest championship of her career, defeating four Grand Slam champions in a row before upsetting World No. 6 Maria Sakkari to lift the 1000-level trophy in Guadalajara.
In an interview with Eurosport, the American spoke about a lot of things, including her 2022 season and how she seldom found herself against the top seeds of the tournaments she was playing in.
Speaking about the times she lost to the eventual winner at eight different tournaments this season, Jessica Pegula admitted to getting frustrated with the experience so often this year:
"It just gets frustrating after it happening so many times in a year; I don’t think that’s happened so many times to someone else as it did to me, so that’s why I was very frustrated.”
However, she took things sportingly and stated that facing the tournament favorites helped her improve her game.
“But at the same time I think you have to look at it as, it’s almost more challenging to keep pushing yourself and to keep finding motivation, like, ‘Okay, I can do this, I’m right there’, and I think with my draw in Guadalajara, it was such a difficult draw with so many Grand Slam champions."
She further said how knowing that someone from her section might even win the title motivated her to perform better.
"All these challenges and I just did a good job of handling it, knowing I’m in a really tough section and maybe someone in my section is going to win the tournament and I think just decided more like, ‘Okay this is my chance to work my way through the draw and be that person that’s going to win.'"
The World No. 3 added:
“Luckily it worked out but it’s definitely challenging but at the same time if you take it the right way it can be extremely motivating."
