The Top 5 WTA Players of 2022: No. 4, Jessica Pegula
After a consistent season—for better and for worse—the top-ranked American still has plenty of room to grow.
Tennis Channel Live: Looking back on Pegula's stellar season
Memorable Moment: Winning her first WTA 1000 title—her first title of the season, and just her second overall—in October at the Guadalajara Open Akron.
Missed Opportunity: After blazing through the second set of the WTA 1000 final in Madrid, 6-0, Pegula won just two more games against Ons Jabeur in the decider.
2023 Projection: She’ll remain the top-ranked American and figure out a way to snap a four-match losing streak to Iga Swiatek.
Jessica Pegula’s No. 3 finish in the WTA rankings was well-deserved. She went 0-4 against current No. 1 Iga Swiatek. She went 0-1 against former No. 1 Ash Barty. She went 0-3 against current No. 2 Ons Jabeur. She went 0-2 against former No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
In all of her other matches this season, Pegula went 42-11.
Pegula was consistent in 2022, for better and for worse. She was reliable enough on a week-to-week basis to earn a career-high ranking and end the year as the tour’s top American. But she clearly hit a ceiling when facing the best of the best. Even her three best finishes at the majors ended in the very same round, the quarterfinals.
Following a valiant but ultimately fruitless effort against Swiatek in the US Open quarters, Pegula acknowledged this reality.
“I go back and forth,” she said, beer at arm’s length, in a late-night session with the press. “Oh, I should be positive. At the same time I’m like, (expletive), three quarterfinals. Sorry, but it sucks. It sucks.
“I wish I didn’t have to play Iga every quarterfinal or Ash Barty, which seem to be the two people that don’t really lose that often. So it just sucks.”
But Pegula also recognized her strong season at the Slams—she posted her best-ever results at Roland Garros (QF loss to Swiatek), Wimbledon (third-round loss) and the US Open (QF loss to Swiatek), and matched her best Australian Open result by defending quarterfinal points (in a loss to Barty). That definitely didn’t suck.
The 28-year-old also said that, “I’ll wake up and see more of the positives, for sure.”
If Pegula is to ascend higher, she’ll need to continue doing what she did so well for the majority of 2022: lacing her groundstrokes off both wings; using the complete court to help disrupt opponents (Pegula is quite comfortable at net, having qualified for the WTA Finals in singles at doubles); remain an all-surface threat.
Of course, if all of that happens but the biggest wins don’t come, Pegula’s passion can quickly turn to frustration—something we saw by year’s end, during an 0-3 stretch at the season-ending championships (Pegula also went 0-3 in doubles with Coco Gauff).
“I feel like I’ve played some good tennis and some good matches, but not being able to get any wins is always difficult,” Pegula said in Fort Worth.
Like in most sports, it feels like it will take just one significant victory to set off a chain of others, and in this case, to release what may be the absolute best version of Pegula. Her biggest positive may actually be her reaction to the negative. Despite all Pegula that achieved, there was no sign of satisfaction. And given her steady rise over the last four years, Pegula doesn’t feel like a one-year wonder.
On a micro level, Pegula’s play in Guadalajara could be a template for future successes. In succession, she defeated:
- Elena Rybakina, this year’s Wimbledon champion, in a final-set tiebreaker, 10-8
- Bianca Andreescu, former US Open champion, in straight sets
- Sloane Stephens, former US Open champion, in straight sets
- Victoria Azarenka, two-time Australian Open champion and recent US Open runner-up, in straight sets
- Maria Sakkari, Top 10 player and two-time Grand Slam semifinalist, in straight sets
“I feel like this was a reward for me at the end of the year to be able to come and play [the WTA] Finals,” said Pegula. “And to finish and winning Guadalajara was obviously a huge accomplishment for me.”
In 2023, Pegula should expect to play another WTA Finals. She should expect to lift more trophies (if she finishes No. 3 in the world again, odds are she’ll win more than one title and reach more than two finals). And this player in her prime should expect more contests with Swiatek, Jabeur and Sabalenka across the net.
How those inevitable collisions go, we’ll see, and they will largely define the macro view of Pegula’s coming years.
As for now, Pegula seemed to take her own advice.
“I feel like once I can be home and reset and kind of relax a little bit,” said Pegula at the WTA Finals. “I can always look at the positives throughout the year and everything I’ve accomplished, and be able to celebrate that more a little bit than this week.”