Shortly after Madison Keys’ title triumph at the 2025 AO, her compatriot, Jessica Pegula, shared a “cool stat” on her social media account. What was the stat? Well, for the first time in over twenty years, three Americans (Gauff, Keys, and Pegula) secured their spots inside the top 5. Although Keys has dropped to number 7 recently, the other two have still managed to retain their spots! In fact, if we include Emma Navarro (9), then there will be four Americans inside the Top 10. It has been a banner year for the American WTA stars, so far! Apart from these superstars, even youngsters like McCartney Kessler won the Hobart International, and then Amana Anisimovic clinched the Qatar Open. Pegula says it’s “really reassuring” to see the rise of these youngsters. But how different has been their journey to each other?
Previously while talking on this topic, Jessica Pegula said, “I feel like we’re doing a good job of setting a good pathway – the girls at the top – for future stars to come in, and from all different pathways, whether it’s girls that are really young or girls that went to college like McCartney.” She also spoke about how they always push each other, practice with each other all the time, and make efforts to know each other in a better way. According to Pegula, Coco Gauff and Madison Keys’ success at the Grand Slams serves as an inspiration to many lower-ranked Americans. Although she came closer to winning one (the 2024 US Open) last year, she fell just one step short of fulfilling her dream.
But having said that, Pegula says she’s extremely “happy to just kind of be a part” of this group. In a recent interview with USA Today, she spoke about how, despite having one big dream, their journey has been so different. “I think it’s really cool and I love the fact that we’ve all had entirely different successful stories and it’s all come about in different types of ways. You know Emma going to college, Maddie, you know, kind of being touted as the next big thing, and then maybe for whatever reasons people think, she didn’t win every single Slam like Serena, and then she was able to capitalize on winning her first Slam this year.“
Following that, she talks about another superstar in American tennis. “And then you have Coco, who we’ve seen being a superstar at such a young age and has already established herself as a top player, already won a Grand Slam (2023 US Open). And then myself, I was kind of a late bloomer. So, I think it’s really cool that we’ve such different journeys and such different stories, but yet we’ve all here kind of living out the same type of dream.”
What do her peers have to say about the rise of American women’s tennis? Emma Navarro said it’s “awesome” to see so many American players in the Top 10. According to her, “American tennis is in really great hands“. Even Madison Keys hailed the consistency among her peers, but ATP star Taylor Fritz’s reaction to seeing American women thrive in tennis stood tall among all the reactions.
During a press conference at this year’s Indian Wells Masters, Taylor Fritz said, “I think the women have been doing an incredible job of that for a long, long time, and I think the guys kind of need to step it up a little bit.” Talking about doing an incredible job, well, Jessica Pegula has been doing that constantly in the last few years. In 2025, she has already clinched two titles (ATX Open and Charleston Open). With just days before the main draw action at the 2025 French Open, let’s just find out what she thinks about the key factor in maintaining a spot inside the Top 5.
Jessica Pegula reveals the key ingredients to be in the Top 5
Despite coming closer to clinching the Grand Slam title last year, Jessica Pegula had to come home with the runner-up trophy. Did that loss hinder her hunger for further success? Well, shortly after finishing the match against Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open final, she said that although she hasn’t won a Slam, she’s happy to come this far and also admitted that she’s quite proud of herself for her incredible fight throughout the tournament.
Keeping these narrow misses aside, Pegula has been one of the consistent performers in the last few years. What, according to her, is the key to holding on to the Top 5 spot? “It’s really tough, I mean to be Top 5, you’ve to be winning tournaments, you’ve to be posting big results in the 1000s or the Grand Slams and that’s not easy to do, especially with all the depth that we have in women’s tennis. So, I mean, a lot goes into it.“
She also added, “I think the main thing that I always feel like I come back to is just you know if you’re not having great results or not having maybe the results you wanted, I think kind of fall into of trap like, ‘Oh, I’m not playing well. My confidence is down, everything is getting kind of negative.’ I think you kind of just have to use it as, ‘Ok, you know this happened. I’m not playing my best. How do I get better?“
Pegula highlighted how hitting the panic button with some results here and there becomes a common factor once a player has already proved himself/herself on the Tour. But according to her, it’s not about winning every single week, but it’s more about the ability to “bounce back” from setbacks. This is something that Pegula thinks is “the most important” factor for top players like Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and others. Do you agree with the American superstar?
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