Jessica Pegula “has never grown bitter,” says one of her biggest fans, Luke Russert—only better

Last year’s WTA Finals encapsulated Jessica Pegula the tennis player. Since her breakout season in 2021, she had become a late-round fixture at the sport’s biggest events, but was coming up short when it mattered most.

Earlier that season, at Wimbledon, Pegula reached the quarterfinal stage at a Grand Slam tournament for the sixth time. Facing unseeded (but unquestionably talented) Marketa Vondrousova, the American held a break point in the third set which, if converted, would have given her a 5-1 lead—all but victory.

Pegula lost the match, and her record in Grand Slam quarterfinals dropped to 0-6.

In Cancun, the last-minute venue for the tour’s season-ending championships, Pegula raced to the final, winning all her matches in straight sets. This included convincing victories over Grand Slam champions Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff.

All that stood between the 29-year-old and the biggest title of her career was world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. It wouldn’t be easy, and it wasn’t: Pegula became the first player since 2017 to reach a tour final without losing a set—and win only one game in that match.

What did Pegula take away from her latest shortcoming in a big spot? Pretty much only positives. In press, Pegula said she proved she could bring her best tennis against the world’s best players. That she had a “really great week here, regardless of the outcome.” She was disappointed, of course, but not sullen, and couldn’t even hold back a laugh or two.

“I have to still look at the positives from this week, beating a lot of top-ranked players,” Pegula said. “Losing to the No. 1 player in the world, that’s probably the second-best outcome I guess I could have asked for, besides winning.”

Professional athletes are in no-win situations under the microscopes of diehard fans and ravenous media. When they are stoic in defeat—like Pegula typically is—we ask for more emotion. When they give that emotion, we ask for more focus, concentration, single-mindedness. It is impossible for the modern-day player to please everyone.

Through no fault of her own, Jessica Pegula may be the finest example of that.

“It’s impressive she has never grown bitter”

A daughter of billionaires, Pegula’s privileged background has always a target for critics, despite her forging an exceptional career at the highest level of an international sport. She regularly plays doubles, a discipline often cited as beneath top singles players. She competes for her country nearly any chance she gets. On the court, she’s more grind than grace. Off of it, she connects with fans, both in person and over social media, in an earnest and approachable manner—you’d think she’s a journeywoman, rather than an elite pro. It is all part of Pegula’s unique charm.

Regardless, she will never be able to shake many pre-conceived notions, both inside and outside the tennis world.

Luke Russert does not share those opinions.

“I think she’s incredibly resilient,” Russert, host and Creative Director of MSNBC Live, wrote to me over email. “So many people dismissed her out the gate as some rich girl trying to buy her way in. Which on its grounds is a flawed and foolish argument. You can have the best coaching in the world; your coach can’t return a 120 mph serve in the US Open final.”

So many people dismissed her out the gate as some rich girl trying to buy her way in. Luke Russert

Russert would know, having witnessed part of Pegula’s run to this year’s US Open final. After turning the tables on Swiatek in a cathartic, drought-ending quarterfinal triumph, Pegula faced Karolina Muchova. The Czech, a former runner-up at Roland Garros, was playing her second consecutive US Open semifinal, but the match was a classic letdown spot for Pegula. Muchova played her role perfectly, winning eight of the first nine games.

“She made me look like a beginner,” Pegula said later that night. “I was about to burst into tears because it was so embarrassing.”

But as she did in the quarterfinals, Pegula flipped the narrative. This time, Pegula was the one who recovered from a large deficit in a spotlight setting. She narrowly avoided falling behind a set and two breaks—then, rather quickly, took command of the match. She won the third set 6-2 to become the oldest American to reach her first Grand Slam singles final. All to the delight of Russert and the pro-Pegula crowd inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“There were a lot of [Buffalo Bills quarterback] Josh Allen jerseys in the stands,” recalls Russert. “When I was walking the concourse I got a lot of ‘Go Bills!’ as I had a Pegula shirt and Bills hat on.

“I chatted up a couple in the beer line who lived in NYC but were originally from Tonawanda; they told me they weren’t big tennis fans, but wanted to support Jessica because of the Buffalo connection. I think that speaks to the loyalty and fandom of Buffalo—it’s incredibly strong.”

While Pegula would lose to Sabalenka in a highly competitive, two-set final, her US Open can only be seen as a success. A giant weight has been lifted off her shoulders; she is the rare late-bloomer who is entering a second (third?) phase of her career.

“Jess has persevered and become a star of women’s tennis,” Russert writes. “She continues to be self-deprecating, calm, cool and collected. She really is a role model for maintaining composure at the highest levels—professionally and personally. That counts for a lot these days, when most everyone has a grievance that is magnified on social media.

“It’s impressive she has never grown bitter, especially after what happened with her mom.”

Russert, unfortunately, knows something about this, too. His father, Tim, moderated NBC’s Meet the Press for more than 16 years—ending each episode with a hopeful “Go Bills.” The young Russert emerged from the womb in Zubaz, a Bills fan from day one.

Luke attended the Bills’ last two unsuccessful Super Bowl appearances as a youngster, but despite so much heartbreak, his fandom, like that of many others from Western New York, has never wavered.

“The Bills have had a tortured history, losing four straight Super Bowls, a long playoff drought (17 years) and some of the most unexplainable losses in sports history—but I wouldn’t trade them for anything,” he says. “It’s made me appreciate the connective tissue that comes from sports.

“No other team in professional sports personifies the identity of their city more than the Bills in Buffalo. It’s like religion, and I’m a weekly congregant.”

In 2008, a decade before Allen would become his own kind of spiritual Sunday leader in Buffalo, Tim Russert suffered a heart attack in NBC News’ Washington bureau. He died at 58.

Fourteen years later, Jessica Pegula’s mother, Kim, suffered cardiac arrest while asleep. She received CPR from her daughter, Kelly, who serendipitously became certified in the procedure just a few months earlier.

Jessica outlined the entire ordeal in a stirring piece for The Players’ Tribune. “My mom is working hard in her recovery, she is improving, but where she ends up is still unknown,” Pegula wrote in February 2023. Kim is still recovering, and this summer visited Bills training camp, but her life has unquestionably been changed since the incident.

When I asked Russert if he had ever met Jess, or the Pegula family, he shared a story about Kim.

“A few years ago, Kim took the wives of some of the front-office staff and coaches of the [Buffalo] Sabres and Bills to Nantucket and put them up on her yacht for a girls’ trip. She heard I was on the island and invited me to drinks on the boat. I showed up and Kim insisted I stay for dinner.

“So I sit at a table and next to me is this nice older couple from Buffalo. I asked how they knew Kim; they go, ‘We don’t know Kim personally. We’re just here for a two-night visit, she saw us on the bike trail this morning wearing Bills gear, flagged us down and invited us.

“I don’t know many billionaire team owners that would flag down some random fans and invite them to dinner on their yacht. But that’s the kind of person Kim Pegula is, and I think those values were passed onto Jessica.”

“I feel like we’re there”

This year’s WTA Finals, combined with her runner-up finish at Flushing Meadows, could represent the capstone of Pegula’s career. But for much of this year, the exclusive event appeared outside her reach.

In January, Pegula lost before the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since Wimbledon 2021. Shortly after, she decided to split from her longtime coach, David Witt. The two headed to the winner’s circle in their very first tournament together, the 2019 Citi Open, and their partnership saw Pegula rise from relative unknown to No. 3 in the world.

But approaching her 30s and concerned that she’d gone as far as she could with Witt, Pegula made an abrupt change.

“It was a total surprise to me,” Witt told me two weeks after he and Pegula spoke. “Never saw it coming.”

Seeking a new voice, Pegula found two: Mark Knowles and Mark Merklein. The former ATP doubles standouts would co-coach Pegula, with Merklein stationed closer to Pegula’s home in Florida, and Knowles’ availability dictated by his existing tennis commitments (among them, Tennis Channel analyst and ATP board member).

“Anyone that knows Mark Merklein, they know he’s one of the nicest good guys out there,” Knowles says. “So, I think that was an easy fit right away for Jess.”

The trio had no problems clicking or finding a proper coaching schedule. Still, following an opening-round loss at Indian Wells, the fifth-ranked player in the world was just 6-4 on the season. Then, after a pair of deep runs in Miami and Charleston, Pegula was sidelined for two months due to injuries.

In her first tournament back, on grass in ‘s-Hertogenbosh, Pegula took a loss to 400^th-ranked Aleksandra Krunic in the round of 16.

“This year she had to deal with some adversity with the injuries, which is always tough,” Knowles says. “But as I explained to her in the beginning, I think it was a result of how much tennis she had been playing, which is a good problem to have.

“It’s tough for players to manage their schedule when you’re winning that much.”

Pegula won’t be playing doubles at the WTA Finals for the first time in three years because she has pared down her schedule—though not entirely. She played 25 doubles matches this season; still, that’s 20 fewer than she did in 2023.

It’s tough for players to manage their schedule when you’re winning that much. Mark Knowles

Most notably, however, Pegula didn’t sign up for doubles or mixed at the US Open. This wouldn’t register as newsworthy for most players, but for those who’ve followed Pegula’s journey, the single-mindedness spoke volumes.

As Knowles recalls, “We as a team and her and also her fitness trainer, John Opfer, we got together right after Wimbledon, kind of came up with a plan for the summer and we engaged that plan immediately.”

Immediately, Pegula’s fortunes, and form, turned. She lost just one set in Toronto and defended her 1000-level title. She went on nine-match win streak and reached the Cincinnati final. Only Sabalenka was able to prevent Pegula from becoming the first woman in 51 years to complete the taxing Canada-Cincy double.

The North American run was a validation of Team Pegula’s process, and necessary balm following early exits at Wimbledon and the Olympics.

“The whole team, we’re super proud of her, love the way she’s playing, love the way she’s competing,” Knowles told me from Cincinnati, shortly after her runner-up finish. “She’s very mentally strong.

“She’s a resilient young lady, and she’s in a great spot heading into the year’s final major. She’s right where she wants to be.”

Before I let Knowles off the phone, I asked him where he felt Pegula was on his and Merklein’s timeline. The relationship was only a few months old, and surely there was a long-term plan in place, with milestones yet to be reached.

Perhaps knowing something I didn’t, Knowles expressed great confidence before Pegula’s next tournament, the US Open.

“I feel like we’re there.”

“Trust yourself and the work you do, promise it pays off”

For all that Pegula achieved this season, the offseason beckons. And why not? Madison Keys’ wedding in Charleston will be fun. She’ll return to New York City in early December for an exhibition with Emma Navarro at Madison Square Garden. And she’ll enjoy holiday weather in Florida that Buffalo denizens can only dream of.

“I haven’t had a lot of time at home since the Olympics; I think I’ve been home maybe two weeks total,” Pegula told TENNIS.com in Wuhan.

So, yeah, I was thinking about taking a trip, but I’m like, I might just stay home and chill. Jessica Pegula

Professional tennis is a grind, and Pegula is well-suited for it. But most things will be fresh for Pegula at this year’s WTA Finals: the venue (Riydah, Saudi Arabia), her team at the season-ending tournament, and likely her outlook, following her latest breakthrough.

Most importantly, through: herself.

“It is the end of the year, and we do feel like everyone is kind of lagging a bit,” says Pegula in Wuhan, where she reached the doubles final. But, “I do feel like maybe I’m a little bit fresher because I missed a lot of the middle part of the year.”

In 2022, Pegula went 0-3 at the WTA Finals in singles (and 0-3 in doubles). Last year, she went 4-1 in singles (and 0-3 in doubles). Unlike her remarkably consistent career, this round-robin event has been boom or bust.

Win or lose in Riyadh, Pegula won’t be able to please everyone. That’s fine with her. After her runner-up finish at the US Open, I asked Pegula if she was able to take in everything she had accomplished over the previous 72 hours: beat Swiatek to reach her first major semifinal, rally past Muchova, compete in her first Grand Slam final.

She was disappointed, of course, but not sullen, and couldn’t even hold back a laugh or two.

“I think maybe once I decompress a little bit,” she said, “I’m sure I will be a little bit more appreciative and see all of that. At some point. I should probably do that at some point.”

Two days later, on Instagram, she did.

“What a crazy journey this is and continues to be,” Pegula wrote, “trust yourself and the work you do, promise it pays off.”