When Jessica Pegula agreed to take part in an exhibition tennis event at Madison Square Garden, she didn’t know how much her career would change before the event took place.
The Buffalo native always enjoyed playing in New York, but the U.S. Open had been like the other three major tennis tournaments for her. She had never made it past the quarterfinals.
However, soon after committing to play in The Garden Cup, she made a breakthrough by reaching the final at the U.S. Open in September. She lost to the current No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, but it was a big achievement for Pegula, and the memories of that success came rushing back when she returned this week.
“So I think even now that I’ve had that great result, being able to come back, it’s even cooler,” Pegula said.
Pegula will compete against fellow American Emma Navarro, who reached the U.S. Open semifinals, on Wednesday night. Carlos Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion, will play against American Ben Shelton.
Alcaraz is returning to play after a short break. He mentioned that he didn’t pick up his racket for about a week and a half after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup, which was Rafael Nadal’s final appearance before retiring.
Pegula had a longer break, needing to rest a knee injury after playing in the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia in early November. She took about three weeks off and then began practicing again around two weeks ago to prepare for Wednesday’s match.
She could have skipped the exhibition to rest during the short tennis offseason, but she didn’t want to miss the chance to play at Madison Square Garden.
“When they were like, ‘You get to play in MSG,’ I was like, ‘Ooh, that’s sick,’” Pegula said. “To me, I just think that in general, if it wasn’t at MSG, I don’t know, then maybe I wouldn’t have done it, to be honest.
It’s something that’s special to be able to do it in New York City during Christmastime. It’s really cool against another American. There’s so many factors I feel like that made me want to say yes.”
Before this year, Pegula had never advanced past the quarterfinals in six attempts at Grand Slam tournaments. Then, she pulled off an upset against No. 1 Iga Swiatek, a huge win that helped her make it deeper into the tournament than ever before.
“It feels like I was just here,” Pegula said. “The stress and just everything and the chaos of those three weeks, it’s kind of funny, you feel it instantly coming back to the city.”
Pegula’s parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Even before becoming a major finalist, she had felt support from home fans when she played in New York.
But this week, when she went to a Rangers game and heard loud cheers as a highlight from a U.S. Open match played, she realized that her popularity might have grown even more.
“I think it’s so fun to play here and being an American. There’s a lot of Bills, a lot of Sabres fans that are always at the U.S. Open, whether they live here or they come to watch me,” Pegula said. “So I think I always feel a little bit of a connection just being a Western New Yorker, but New Yorker nonetheless.”
