J. PEGULA/R. Masarova
6-0, 6-0
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Do you remember the last time you put up three straight 6-0 sets?
JESSICA PEGULA: Have I ever done it three straight sets? I thought you would know the answer.
No, I have no idea. I don't even remember the last time I double bageled anybody.
Q. ITF.
JESSICA PEGULA: I figured it was like a challenger somewhere. You take those when you can. It doesn't happen very often.
Q. Why do you think it happened today?
JESSICA PEGULA: I think I came out playing very well, breaking her. She's got a pretty big serve. I think that maybe sucked any momentum that she had kind of right away. Then being able to hold.
Then there were two 40-Love games I came back and won, which I think was a big momentum changer just for giving her a chance to hang around a set, but like keeping it one break and stuff.
I just played every single point I think really smart. I think I executed my strategy, like, really quickly, took away serves really quickly, then the rest I think I just kind of played solid, yeah.
Q. I'm really interested in the psychology of a double bagel win. In your head are you as intense as you would be, C'mon, you can still lose this?
JESSICA PEGULA: I was like, I lost the first set 6-0, I just always have in my head Taylor Fritz saying that it's the kiss of death. I was just informed that it's only the kiss of death on the men's tour and it doesn't count if it's three-out-of-five. Three-out-of-five, it's good. I didn't know that was a thing. But I was thinking about that literally because I've heard him say that so many times.
Yeah, that's kind of...
Q. When you won the first set, you don't want to get complacent?
JESSICA PEGULA: You're thinking for sure don't get complacent. You know things can change really quickly. Sometimes the player frees up, took a bathroom break. Can't get any worse. That's why I think it's a hard thing. It doesn't happen, like, super often.
Q. When it's 6-Love, 3-Love, does it carry on?
JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, but I think you're always thinking the next game, get one more, get one more, don't give her any chances.
Again, I was down I think Love-40 one game in the second. Like, yeah, I probably could have just tried to go for a crazy shot and maybe lost the game. I think on the clay I just feel like with all the matches here, it seems like everything's really up and down. People would leave. Breaks don't mean as much anymore.
It was more to me thinking like a clay court mentality, just don't leave anything up for chance. You never know when you're going to get a couple bad bounces, someone gets in the groove, you hit a double-fault, next thing you know the break's back. I think I've seen a lot of those matches happening here, especially on the clay.
Yeah, that's usually what I'm thinking about: just keep getting one more.
Q. You're a nice person. Does any part of you feel bad in that moment or you're still so locked in?
JESSICA PEGULA: You don't really feel bad. No, you're trying to get the win. However it happens happens.
She kind of smirked at me at the net and said, Well, that was mean. I kind of like processed what she said. She kind of turned away. Chuckled. I think if you ask anybody on tour, they're going to take that win.
Q. Have you ever been double bageled?
JESSICA PEGULA: Probably. Have I? I definitely was maybe in juniors, for sure. It's not a fun place to be, no.
Q. I'm curious about this concept at Grand Slams, everyone kind of feels like careers are defined by winning one. Sometimes there can be a toxic philosophy surrounding that where you think if somebody won a Grand Slam, they have automatically a better career than somebody who didn't win a Grand Slam.
JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah.
Q. Do you see that at all in the way that people talk about players, about tennis? Is it a thing that people fall for? Is it a thing that players fall for?
JESSICA PEGULA: I think that definitely some people feel a certain way. I think maybe to like an outside tennis fan that doesn't watch that much, to them they're probably just thinking you won a Grand Slam, great. They could have never won another match, they probably don't realize it.
If you talk to someone that's, like, a pretty avid tennis fan, they're like, Oh, my God, she only one won slam, she didn't do anything else. Or the opposite: she didn't win a slam, but she had an amazing career, I love watching her play, she won this tournament, but never got through. I think you see both sides of the spectrum.
I think any player always wants a slam. I'd be curious to ask like, I don't know, some of the girls that didn't, maybe a Pliskova, a Svitolina. They have like 30 titles. I don't know if they would really exchange that for maybe one slam.
I mean, it's also, too, is it one slam or like you're 100 in the world. I think there's a lot of gray area there.
Q. (No microphone.)
JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah.
Q. How do you evaluate careers?
JESSICA PEGULA: Of course, I want to win a Grand Slam. I also think at the same time, like, I don't know, I see some girls that have won one slam, then I feel like they struggle maybe outside of that.
I mean, I honestly I think if it was only one slam I would still take my career than maybe being, like, ranked 50 and one slam. I don't know. Maybe something like that. I think I fall somewhere in the middle.
If I won one slam, I would be happy but maybe if I was a top-20 player where I feel like I still made a stable career, was putting up good results, because I think longevity...
I think the goal's always a slam.
Q. Maybe where the slam doesn't feel like it's an outlier?
JESSICA PEGULA: Exactly. It's not like you got lucky, you were just hot for two weeks, and that was it. That's tough to deal with.
Yeah, I just think when you see some of the girls who have, it's hard to keep up like that pressure. It's a lot of pressure. I'm not sure if I would have really loved having that, especially some of the ones that have won at a young age and stuff like that. That's really hard to deal with.
So yeah, I don't know. I think it depends on those little things.
Q. What is your motivation right now? Grand Slam title, No. 1, being better and better player?
JESSICA PEGULA: I mean, for sure a slam, obviously, because I haven't won one yet. At the same time I think day in and day out my motivation is always just getting better as a player.
I think we always have a joke with my coach that it's all just practice anyways because he's, like, Hey, I'm 50-something years old and I still go out there and hit and I'm trying to get better.
It kind of never ends. I feel like I have that kind of feelings. I made finals at the US Open. Two weeks later I'm in China battling, still playing tennis. You're out there, you're not even remotely thinking about I just made finals of a Grand Slam. You're thinking, Gosh, I need to figure out how to get through this match. You're losing your mind, fighting with your coach, all these things are going wrong.
To me, having already had that experience, which didn't surprise me, I think I'm always just looking at each day getting better as a player. At the end of the day you go to the next week, and it's the same thing all over again, whether it's in a Grand Slam or it's here or it's in Cincinnati or it's at a 250.
I don't know, I think that's just the way my mind works. Yeah, I think just motivation's always getting better.
Q. It's such a competitive sport. Every week new players are coming. What in your opinion you have to add to your game or be better at to achieve your goals?
JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, well, I mean, I've worked a lot on my serve. I think the serve is a big thing. It's definitely something I see with the younger players. When you see a younger player who has a good serve, I think that's like a huge weapon. I think if you see a younger player and they don't have a good serve, you're kind of thinking until they get that better, you don't really know if it's going to hold up week in and week out.
Of course, they can still win a tournament or whatever. But I think that's definitely something, especially now a lot of the girls are pretty big and tall, I feel like we're in an era where there's a lot of good women's servers. Not like Serena level. There's Rybakina and Sabalenka, they're good servers, and they're winning all the tournaments.
For me, my serve is always something that I've been working on. Yeah, just getting better, little things. I think when you're a top player, I'm winning a lot of matches, but at the same time, like, you don't want to get complacent. I think you always want to keep working on little things here and there.
You see that with the top players on the men's and women's side. Little tiny subtle things that I don't know if a normal fan would notice. Things I notice because you practice with them, you see them trying things, changing things a little bit. You feel it when you play against them.
I think you always want to keep that mindset of not being too complacent, still working on improving the smallest little percent that can hopefully help you in a big moment.
Q. In the end of the practice, you used some slice. Is it something that it was just for this match or something you want to use more on clay?
JESSICA PEGULA: I mean, I have a really good slice. I think on clay it's something I definitely want to use more. It weird because I have a good backhand, too. Sometimes girls that slice a lot, they don't like hitting their backhands. For me it's hard because I have a good backhand, I don't mind hitting my backhand. It's like balancing more of how does it mess up my opponent, maybe it's bothering them. It's not necessarily me, affecting me, but it's more how do I affect them a little bit.
I have a good slice. I think on clay you have a little bit more time to use it. My coach is a big proponent of always trying to use the slice when I can. It's finding the right moment, picking and choosing, and obviously it depends on who I'm playing.
Q. You mentioned that US Open final. Did you get time to process, did you think about that much afterward?
JESSICA PEGULA: I remember walking off the court and thinking I could have done this so much better, I could have done that. I was right there, but I didn't do this in that moment. I still got to work on this.
I think I was in such a mode of, like, how do I still get better. I don't know if that's good or bad. I don't know. It's just different.
Yeah, I mean, it happens. I mean, I think when off-season kind of hit and after finals and stuff like that, I think you appreciate like, I had a great run, a great year, amazing results, but at the same time for me I'm just like how do I keep getting better.
I think sometimes it's hard for tennis players to really stop and appreciate because the tour forces you to move on. You don't want to be stuck in that moment forever, but at the same time it's probably healthy to acknowledge an amazing result.
It's a hard thing to balance. I think I did eventually in the off-season. Yeah, when you're flying to Asia and things start back up, it's hard to really live in that moment. Honestly, yeah, I don't think you want to be stuck in that moment too long. You know what I mean? Then you're not really present, so...
Q. How do you reward yourself?
JESSICA PEGULA: I just like being home and doing nothing (laughter). That's always my reward. Sometimes my siblings are at the house, Do you want to do something? I don't want to do anything. I have been in work mode. I don't have weekends. I don't have... You're not thinking about that. Also your workday is the entire day. You're doing recovery, you're doing prep, so you're never shut off.
I just like to I call it rot on the couch for like three days, then I start getting antsy and wanting to do things.
I think also spending time with friends and family is really nice because they are so supportive when I'm traveling and playing tournaments. Always spending holidays or special events, just being with friends and family where you're not really playing tennis, you're not thinking about anything, you just get to be there with them.
I always feel like they kind of celebrate me in that way because they're following me all year. You played so amazing, you had an amazing, blah, blah, blah. It's fun because I don't see them that much. It feels like that's kind of my little celebration of results. A good year is finding those moments throughout the year at the end of the year when I can.
Q. What about the Sabres?
JESSICA PEGULA: My gosh, I am so upset that I have not been able to see any of the games. I saw one because they played early in Madrid, so technically I could watch. Yeah, that's been a bummer. That's been a bummer. I won't complain. We're in the Playoffs. Itself 1-All. I think we play again tonight. It's like 2 a.m. or whatever it is.
But yeah, that's been amazing to follow. So much fun.
Q. After 14 years, back in the Playoffs.
JESSICA PEGULA: I think it was like 15 years. No, I know. We're actually good. Winning a series is crazy. We had a bad last game, so we need to bounce back tonight. We have a good chance to be in the Conference Finals.
That's been amazing. It's a bummer I can't be there. I would give anything to just be at a Playoff game. It's the best. It's so fun. I love it so much. It's my favorite thing.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports