"My parents & coaches never liked my attitude" - Jessica Pegula reveals the truth about her teenage years as she addresses her calm nature

Jessica Pegula recently opened up about the reason behind her staying calm on the court during her matches. She is currently gearing up for the next match at the Cincinnati Open.

Pegula was last seen in action on August 9, 2025, in the first round of the doubles tournament of the Cincinnati Open, where she and her partner, Hailey Baptiste, locked horns with Ashlyn Krueger and Iva Jovic. Amid her ongoing campaign, she sat for an interview with the Tennis Insider Club, where she spoke about her calm nature on the court.

Along with her tennis skills during her match, the American is also known for her calm attitude while she is on the court. Talking about this, she revealed the truth about her teenage years and how they shaped her calm nature, stating that her parents and her coach didn't like her attitude. (38:18 onwards)

"When I was growing up, everyone always, and I say everyone is in, my parents or my coaches at the time, like never really liked my attitude. I always kind of had a bad attitude. Okay. And so not a bad attitude, but they'd say, you know, you look like you don't care. Passive kind of thing. Yeah. And I'd be like, so then I kind of got this complex, like they were trying to get me to be fired up and I'd be like, that's okay, but like, I can't do that, so do I do it? Yeah. So then I get mad. I think then I just started kind of being more emotional and maybe a little bit more like bad attitude," said Jessica Pegula.

She further spoke about now getting compliments about her nature, saying:

"It's funny now people are. I get so many compliments like, oh, you're so calm and I love your presence on the court. I'm like, it's so funny 'cause like I felt like my whole teenage year. I was just being told how to act. Yeah. What to be, what to do. And I had no idea like what my personality was," she added.

Ahead of the Cincinnati Open, Pegula competed at the Canadian Open, where she fell short of progressing further than the second round.

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Jessica Pegula's 2025 tennis season so far

Jessica Pegula's 2025 tennis so far has been a roller coaster ride, as she has won some tournaments, reached the finals of some, and experienced early exits in some of them this year. She opened the season by competing at the Adelaide International, where she delivered some impressive performances and reached the finals, locking horns with Madison Keys. The latter swept the title with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win.

Following this, she competed in the Australian Open, which saw her succumb to Olga Danilovic in the third round. Her third tournament of the year was the Qatar Open, where she couldn't advance further than the third round against Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Shortly after this, the 31-year-old competed in the ATX Open, where she won her first title of the 2025 season after getting the better of McCartney Kessler with an impressive 7-5, 6-2 win. Jessica Pegula also reached the finals of the Miami Open, where she squared off against Aryna Sabalenka, who claimed the title with a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

Just after this tournament, the American won the Charleston Open title after besting Sofia Kenin in the final round on April 7. She claimed her third title of the season at the Bad Homburg Open, where she defeated World No. 3, Iga Swiatek, on June 28. Adding to these, Jessica Pegula competed in several other tournaments, including the Berlin Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, the Citi Open, and more.