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American No. 1 Jessica Pegula recently congratulated her coach David Witt for winning the WTA Coach of the Year award.
Witt has been working with Pegula for quite some time. She moved to a career-high No. 3 in the rankings and reached the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam tournaments this season, losing to either Ashleigh Barty or Iga Swiatek each time.
She also won the Guadalajara Open, reached her first WTA 1000 final at the Madrid Open, and qualified for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles.
In light of this, Jessica Pegula posted a cheeky congratulatory message to her coach on Instagram, writing:
"I know I know…you couldn’t have done it without me. Congrats to Diamond Dave."
Zheng Qinwen was named Newcomer of the Year at the WTA Awards on Monday, while Iga Swiatek was named Player of the Year. Beatriz Haddad-Maia won the Most Improved Player of the Year award and Tatjana Maria was named the Comeback Player of the Year. The Doubles Team of the Year award went to Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
Ons Jabeur, meanwhile, received the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award, and Gabriela Dabrowski once again received the Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award. The Jerry Diamond ACES Award went to Maria Sakkari.
"Nice to see people noticing for what I'm good at and not other things" - Jessica Pegula on breaking out of her Buffalo Bills image with her tennis exploits
In a post-match press conference following her title win in Guadalajara, Jessica Pegula discussed how coming from a renowned family was something she has had to deal with her entire life.
The NHL's Buffalo Sabres and the NFL's Buffalo Bills are owned by Pegula's parents, Terry and Kim Pegula.
The 28-year-old expressed satisfaction at carving out a name for herself with her performances, especially this season.
"Yeah, it's definitely something I've always had to deal with I guess. Especially as I was coming up, I was doing better, people kind of knew my name," Pegula said.
"Always I think important that it's nice that I was able to make a name for myself in this sport," she continued, adding, "I think I did that already. But I think just solidifying it by how well I've been doing the last year definitely gives me a lot of confidence. It's nice to see people noticing for what I'm good at and not other things. It's special. I'm glad that people are starting to say that."
