Tennis star emerges out of billionaire's shadow

1 year ago 53

American satellite No.3 Jessica Pegula has got it all.

On apical of a batch of endowment with a tennis racquet, Pegula is the girl of a billionaire who owns the Buffalo Bills NFL team.

Her communicative is precise antithetic to astir of her peers. While tennis has developed a estimation for offering a aureate summons retired of poorness for galore of its biggest names, Pegula has drawn connected wholly antithetic motivating factors to thrust her up towards the apical of the tree.

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"We each person antithetic drivers," Nine commentator Sam Smith told Wide World of Sports' The Morning Serve.

"You've got to recognize she's from a precise precocious achieving family. Her sister went to a Division 1 assemblage and played tennis. Her parent [Kim] runs a grounds statement (Black River Entertainment), runs an crystal hockey squad (NHL's Buffalo Sabres), you're expected to bash good if you're a Pegula.

"But also, the wealth didn't truly travel successful - I mean her father's a self-made billionaire - until precocious successful her teens and tennis is her thing.

"She's gone from being Terry Pegula's daughter, to present helium is Jessica Pegula's dad. When you're successful specified a palmy household you've got to find your small niche, don't you?

" ... She sets precise precocious standards for herself, and she is defining herself arsenic a abstracted idiosyncratic to the household of the Buffalo Bills."

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Now 28, Pegula has the accidental to wholly measurement retired of her parents' sizeable shadiness by lifting a expansive slam trophy connected Saturday.

Having grinded her mode up the rankings implicit the past 10 years, Pegula yet landed wrong the apical 20 successful 2021, earlier a career-best play changeable her retired of a cannon to No.3 successful the satellite by the extremity of past year.

All of her champion expansive slam results came successful 2022, with quarter-final appearances astatine the Australian Open (equal best), the French Open and the US Open to spell with a 3rd circular exit astatine Wimbledon.

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Throw successful her archetypal ever WTA 1000 triumph astatine the Guadalajara Open and a drawstring of different outstanding results astatine that level and Pegula each of a abrupt has the CV to judge that she belongs among the world's elite.

The American plays two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka successful Tuesday night's quarter-final - with the Belarusian prima 1 of 2 expansive slam champions remaining successful the apical fractional of the draw. The different is 23-year-old Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina who defeated Jeļena Ostapenko successful Tuesday's different quarter-final.

Yet, contempt her deficiency of acquisition successful expansive slam semi finals and finals, Pegula has started to look "ready" to articulation the ranks of large winners connected the WTA Tour.

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"She evidently likes playing successful Australia, this is the 3rd clip she's made the 4th finals," Smith said. "You've ever got to triumph 1 the archetypal clip and radical are saying 'the women's gully is wide open', good the apical fractional has got a reigning Wimbledon champion, you've got Azarenka who was for a portion the champion subordinate successful the world, has doubly won the Australian Open, you know, you've got tons of apical top players.

"I don't know, I deliberation there's a consciousness she's ne'er played the semis of a expansive slam, truthful she's got to interruption caller ground, and I conjecture we volition find out. Is she susceptible of winning? I judge she is. On existent form, absolutely."

Smith is tipping Pegula to bushed Azarenka, which would pit her successful a mouth-watering semi-final match-up against Rybakina, conscionable 1 lucifer distant from her archetypal expansive slam champion.

And with the Bills having conscionable been knocked retired of the NFL playoffs, that progression would permission nary 1 uncertain about the biggest sanction successful Buffalo. The tennis playing Pegula, alternatively than her billionaire dad.

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