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Jessica Pegula gave a stern reply to people who doubt her owing to her wealthy and privileged background.
Pegula's parents are multi-billionaire business people. Her father Terry Pegula is the owner of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which in turn owns the NHL team Buffalo Sabres and the NFL team Buffalo Bills.
Her mother, Kim Pegula, is the CEO of Pegula Sports and Entertainment and the co-owner of Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, along with her husband.
In an interview by Forbes, Pegula was asked how she felt about people assuming a lack of ambition since she came from a wealthy background. The American pushed back and stated that no matter where an athlete came from, without hard work and talent they will not experience success.
“I think everyone who knows sports or is an athlete, or is highly competitive or made it very far knows you’re not gonna get there unless you work hard & are talented & are really driven to get there. It’s really difficult," said Pegula in an interview with Forbes.
The World No. 5 in singles, and World No. 3 in doubles format of the game, said that she was not bogged down by such criticism.
"I don’t worry too much about it. I think most people get that. Maybe some people who just don’t want to like me for whatever reason maybe will always say that. But I can’t really change their minds. I’ve worked really hard. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten here if it wasn’t for that,” she added.
A brief look at Jessica Pegula's 2023 season
Jessica Pegula enjoyed a successful 2023 season. At the Grand Slams, the American made a third-round exit at the French Open and a fourth-round exit at the US Open. She made it as far as the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
The World No. 5 added two titles to her name this season by clinching the trophy at the Montreal Open and the Seoul Open. She was the runner up at the Doha International and the Tokyo Open.
She closed her season with some of her best performances at the WTA Finals. She defeated World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and US Open champion Coco Gauff en-route to the finals where she eventually fell to Iga Swiatek.
Jessica Pegula finished her 2023 season with an impressive 59-18 win-loss record and has been nominated for the WTA Player of the year.
