Pegula touts Keys and Bencic's feel-good wins: 'It's so exciting to watch'

Big forehands, unbreakable serves, and indefatigable competitors exist up and down the Hologic WTA Tour's Top 100. But what sets the cream of the crop apart from the rest is the ability to adjust and maximize their game on any given day. That's the unique challenge in tennis, where climates, venues, balls and jet lag make the pursuit of on-court perfection a fool's game. 

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World No. 5 Jessica Pegula knows that well. The 30-year-old American came into her own in the last five seasons to emerge as an immovable bedrock in the Top 10. While fast hard courts remain her bed and butter -- she's won three hard-court WTA 1000s and made the US Open final -- Pegula has shown a remarkable ability to adapt from week to week. Her first WTA 1000 final came on the high-altitude clay in Madrid. Last summer, she picked up her first grass-court title in Berlin. 

Pegula's adaptability will be tested over the next few months as she looks to make up for lost time. Last year, she missed four WTA 1000s (Doha, Dubai, Madrid and Rome) and a Grand Slam (Roland Garros) due to injuries. That would be enough to knock most players out of the Top 10, but she never slipped below No.7. That's the perk of being consistent. From Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek to Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini, the best never allow their ranking to be propped up by a handful of results.

"I think if you have more of an all-around game it's easier to adapt because you're able to use different tools in different conditions," Pegula told WTA Insider by phone ahead of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open. "I think the players who can problem-solve the best have those tools, making it easier to get through a situation where you don't feel the conditions favor you and you're able to figure it out. 

"That's something I feel I still can get so much better at. Even though it feels like I do it a lot, there are definitely some matches where I'm really struggling with my ball, or a shot isn't working, and you have to figure it out."

Pegula may have had her third-round exit from the Australian Open on her mind. She started the year with a confidence-building run to the Adelaide International final, where she ran into the eventual Australian Open champion Madison Keys. But on a cool night in Melbourne, Pegula could not hack through the slower conditions, which she likened to a clay court. She lost to Serbia's Olga Danilovic 7-6(3), 6-1. 

"That's the beauty of tennis," Pegula said, "you can play during the day, during the night, from one week to another things get vastly different. You just have to keep a balance of being aware of it without letting it consume you. That can be really tough. Some weeks, maybe the conditions completely favor one girl and completely don't favor you, and you having a bad day and it gets harder and harder. Some days it's easier than others. 

"But I think the best players in the world handle it the best for sure."

It would be tempting to look at Pegula's steady and suffocating baseline game and assume the Buffalo native was a risk-averse creature of habit. Not so. Like anyone else, Pegula would love to see less variability from week to week, but she also knows her superior ability to manage it all gives her a competitive edge. Finding that balance is the challenge. But Pegula isn't scared to take a chance. 

Taking chances and mitigating variables has been the story of the 2025 season so far, highlighted by the pair of feel-good stories being written by Keys and a returning Belinda Bencic. On Sunday, Bencic captured her first title since returning from maternity leave, winning the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi. 

"It's been cool to see everyone's different journeys and how they get there," Pegula said. "Everyone's story is so different and able to be rewritten in every way possible throughout your entire career. Obviously I've seen that in my career being a late bloomer, and now Madison, who's been touted for so long." 

When asked about her good friend Keys' decision to change her equipment at a relatively late career stage, Pegula sounded like a proud sister. 

"I think it takes a lot of courage to try something new," Pegula said. "Honestly, I get really annoyed when people say 'But it's working, why would you change?' 

"But why wouldn't you try? Take a risk and try something different that could maybe give you an extra 5-10 percent. With Madi, who we already know can hit the ball incredibly, if it can help her 5-10 percent, that's the difference between her winning a Slam or losing in the quarterfinals."

Pegula is more intuned with equipment issues than most WTA players and revealed she almost switched from her trusty Yonex E-Zone to the V-Core before the Australian Open.

"It's not that easy to switch because tennis is all about feel. My husband played baseball and hockey and he's like, 'I don't understand, we switch all the time'. But you guys don't have a 'feel' shot. There are so many 'feel' shots in tennis and in tight moments when you're relying on skill to complete that, if something feels slightly different in your hand you can lose that."

"I'm always all for trying different things because you never know. Some people can't live with it, but if I tried it, it was my decision and if it's terrible, that's fine. At least I can say that I tried and I'm always for things where you don't want to look back on your career and wish you tried a racquet. That's so silly. That's definitely not something I would want to regret. Maybe Madi opened up the window for people to step out of their comfort zone a little more."

The Middle East swing has been a fruitful fortnight for Pegula in the past. She has made the final four in two of her three appearances in Doha, including the final in 2023, and was a semifinalist in Dubai two years ago. She opens her tournament against Elina Svitolina in the second round on Tuesday.

"I always feel like I can play really well in the conditions here," Pegula said. "I always feel it's a few different challenges, with the wind and temperature and all the things that can change here. 

"So I'm really taking it as a mental and physical challenge these next couple of weeks. I didn't get to play them last year, so I'm looking forward to making up some ground this year."