World No.5 Jessica Pegula has been caught on video apparently criticising fellow players Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva during a practice session. The footage, which surfaced on social media, appears to be a live stream of Pegula talking to her coach on court as she prepares for the WTA Finals in Indian Wells, California, beginning on Sunday.
Pegula is due to face Gauff on Monday in her first group stage match and could meet Andreeva later in the tournament. In the video, Pegula is heard discussing Andreeva and her coach, Conchita Martinez.
Comments about Andreeva and Martinez
Pegula appears to describe Andreeva, who won the French Open earlier this year, as a “diva” who “needs to be humbled” and “put in her place.” She also spoke about Martinez, saying the coach has been “nice to her” but that she has “lost a little respect for her.”
“If I was a coach and my girl, you just played four great games, and you’re up four-zero, and you’re mad at me, hitting balls at me, I would be like, first of all, [that’s] disrespectful to the other person,” Pegula is heard saying. She added: “Conchita [Martinez], like pokes her [Andreeva] and like eggs on her behaviour.”
Comparison with Gauff
Pegula then turned to Gauff, suggesting that if Andreeva had the World No.4’s “mentality”, she would “be better than Coco.”
Pegula was recently outspoken after the US Open in September, where she suggested men’s matches be reduced to the best of three sets rather than five. The suggestion followed several matches at Flushing Meadows that went beyond midnight local time, including the quarter-final between Carlos Alcaraz and Blake Shelton.
Earlier comments on match format
“I don’t know what the solution is [to late finishes], honestly,” Pegula said on The Player’s Box podcast in September. “My theory with the five sets has always been that they should play best of five, perhaps, starting from the quarter-finals, but that would not have solved the problem of that night between Alcaraz and Shelton.”
She added: “I still think they should play best of three until the quarter-finals and then switch to best of five. But would that solve the problem? No.”
