Breaking News: Jessica Pegula now ranked World No.2 Tennis Player; How Jessica Pegula conquered her own fears to get to the top of women’s tennis
How Jessica Pegula conquered her own fears to get to the top of women’s tennis – and is playing freely this clay season
The 31-year-old American has had a late-career renaissance and has a chance to reach world No.2 at the Madrid Open 2025. Partially to thank? One of her dogs, Maddie.
Even as Jessica Pegula has sky-rocketed up the women’s tennis rankings – she’s a career-high world No.3 this week – the American star loves her creature comforts.
A self-described homebody and dog lover, she brought one of her favourite creatures (literally), her mini Australian shepherd, Maddie, with her to the Charleston Open earlier this month.
With a rented house not far from the tournament and morning walks on the South Carolina coast with Maddie, Pegula’s home-away-from-home vibes worked: She claimed her eighth career title in Charleston, with Maddie bounding onto the court afterwards for pictures with her human mum and her latest trophy.
“[My dogs] help bring me back to appreciating the small moments at home, no matter what tough moments I’m facing” on court, Pegula told Tennis.com recently.
It’s been only in the last five years that Pegula, now 31, has burst into the world’s Top 10 (and then Top 5) after spending the better part of a decade hovering in the minor leagues of tennis.
She credits her life-changing success to a shift in mentality – and, specifically – a stepping away from fear.
“It’s crazy,” Pegula recounted to reporters in Stuttgart, Germany, recently. “Like, I always believed in my game, but I was always scared. I never wanted to have a big result and [then] not be able to have consistent results.”
But consistency is the name of the game for Pegula these days, both in her playing style and in the results she’s been able to churn out.
Her 27 match wins (as of 26 April) leads all players – including the two women ranked above her: World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and No.2 Iga Swiatek, who is the defending champion in Madrid. Pegula has the chance to pass Swiatek and reach that second ranking spot on the WTA tour – but only if she goes deep in Madrid.
Jessica Pegula on being a top player: “I did not think it was going to happen”
Six years ago, in 2019, Pegula played the Mutua Madrid Open as the world No.71. She lost in the second round of qualifying – falling short of the main draw. (On Sunday, 27 April, she faces Uchijima Moyuka in the third round of the 2025 edition.)
But her upward trajectory since then has been startling – in the best possible way. Entering the 2021 Australian Open, Pegula had won just three of 11 matches at Grand Slams, the four annual pillar events in pro tennis.
She’d make a run to the quarter-finals in Melbourne, beating major champions Victoria Azarenka and Sam Stosur as well as No.5 seed Elina Svitolina en route.
The success Down Under brought out her aforementioned worst fear, however: A one-and-done run.
“I went to Doha [after that] and I was in the qualifying draw,” she remembered. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to be that player that makes quarter-finals, has breakout and then loses in qualifying. It’s really hard when you have to back up results week to week.”
Pegula tapped into something deeper that week, however. She did, indeed, qualify at Doha, and made a run to the semi-finals where she bowed out to eventual champion Petra Kvitova.
She’d end 2021 as 18th in the world after starting the year as No.63. In 2022, the following year, she’d rise all the way up to No.3 for the first time in her career.
“I surprise myself with how well I adjusted,” she explained about the transition into the upper echelons of women’s tennis.
“Because honestly, since then, I’ve been a top player. I did not think it was going to happen. I thought even after the first year of doing well, I thought I’d have like a sophomore slump a little bit, not put up results.
“You always think you can, but I never thought I’d be able to do it consistently,” Pegula continued. “When I was younger, that wasn’t my strength. How I’ve been able to do it, I really don’t know. Maybe [it’s because] I’m pretty relaxed. Maybe it’s my mindset. It just kind of happened naturally.
After making that initial run to the quarters at the AO in 2021, Pegula would make five more final eights at the majors over the next three seasons. But she had never gone further, and when the 2024 US Open arrived, there was plenty of chatter that she couldn’t make it past that round – that the quarter-finals may be her peak.
It was in New York that she’d make her first major final, pushing Sabalenka in a tight two-setter in front of a boisterous home New York crowd.
“Even though [I haven’t won] a Slam yet, I’m happy that I’m able to come in week after week and put up good results,” she said. “I’m very proud of that.”
Can Pegula contend for a maiden major at Roland-Garros?
Last month, Pegula met Sabalenka in the final of another one of her home events in the US, the Miami Open. The world No.1 claimed that title, too, bringing her head-to-head with Pegula to 7-2 in her favour.
As she knocks on the door of the No.2 ranking, Pegula has faced the challenge of both Sabalenka and Swiatek head-on.
“You have to embrace the challenge, you have to embrace that they are the best player in the world for a reason,” she told reporters in Miami after that Sabalenka loss. “And if you want to win these big tournaments and big titles, you have to beat those types of players.”
Pegula added, breaking into a smile: “Although I am getting a little annoyed with playing her.”
Last season, Pegula missed this clay swing due to a lingering neck injury that also set her out for the clay major, Roland-Garros in Paris.
With the WTA rankings working on a one-year cycle, she has no ranking points to defend in Madrid, Rome, or Paris.
Could that help her play even more freely in the coming weeks, where a maiden major title might not be out of the question?
“I’m known more for being a hard court player, but I think I can do well on the clay, too,” she said in Miami.
“I’m fresh,” she added in Stuttgart. A dangerous sort of opportunity for Pegula – and one the rest of the tour – Sabalenka and Swiatek – will take notice of.
How Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff can pass Iga Swiatek for the No. 2 ranking in Madrid
If Swiatek wins the WTA 1000 event, she’s safe at No. 2—but if she loses at any point, Pegula and Gauff could strike.
There may be no battle for No. 1 on the WTA rankings at the moment—with 10,768, current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka currently has an unreachable ranking point lead of 3,385 over No. 2.
There’s a battle brewing for that No. 2 ranking, though.
The current No. 2, Iga Swiatek, is defending more than half of her ranking points during Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros—4,000 out of 7,383—and with that, her Top 2 status will be under attack.
And that begins in Madrid, where the current No. 3 and No. 4, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, both have a shot at passing her.
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