Pegula plays with mother on her mind
WIMBLEDON, England — Jessica Pegula heard the jokes from other players at Wimbledon: “They’re like, ‘Did you play yet? You still haven’t played?!’ And they’re already on their second-round matches.”
The 28-year-old American, who is seeded No. 8 at the All England Club, finally got on court on Day 3 of the tournament to play her first grasscourt match of 2022 — and Pegula won, eliminating Donna Vekic 6-3, 7-6 (2) on Wednesday.
The match originally was scheduled for the day prior but got pushed back after rain delays slowed the progress of earlier matches Tuesday.
Pegula now will be scheduled to be back out there Thursday, trying to get to the third round at Wimbledon for the first time.
Pegula almost did not enter the grass-court Grand Slam event. Her mother, Kim, was hospitalized in intensive care in Florida about two weeks ago for what her family described then as “some unexpected health issues.” That was shortly after Jessica returned from the French Open, in which she reached the quarterfinals in singles plus the final in doubles, alongside Coco Gauff.
Pegula’s parents Kim, 53, and Terry, 71, own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.
“She’s doing a lot better now. That’s why I’m here. If she wasn’t doing well, I probably wouldn’t have come. I flew out Wednesday last week, and within that time, she was in a really good condition, where I felt like everything was fine, and I felt like my family had everything under control. She’s progressing and she’s been doing rehab,” said Pegula, who faces Harriet Dart of Britain next. “I felt comfortable coming here. But that’s why I didn’t play any warm-up tournaments.”
Pegula said her husband and other members of the family are with Mom and have been passing along regular updates.
“I hope,” Pegula said, “she got to watch me play today.”