As the 2025 US Open nears the start of its semifinal round, Jessica Pegula is standing strong as one of two Americans left in the draw. Casual fans or those newly aboard the tennis train might be wondering: Who is Pegula?
Ranked fourth in the world, the 31-year-old player has been dominating the tournament thus far and is set to face off against world number one and defending US Open champ Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday night. If you’re a major tennis fan, perhaps you’re already familiar with Pegula’s (pretty impressive) game. But if you’re just now tuning in—or want to learn more about her ahead of the big match—here are a few key (and fun) facts about the American powerhouse who could very well take home the next Grand Slam title.
1. Her breakthrough came only recently.
While a lot of top players—like Sabalenka and Coco Gauff—quickly moved up the rankings in their teens or early 20s, Pegula’s breakthrough didn’t come overnight. The 2024 US Open marked the first time she ever reached a Grand Slam final, where she ultimately lost to Sabalenka (but hey, this is the perfect opportunity for a high-stakes rematch).
Before that, Pegula cracked the world top 50 for the first time at 27 years old in 2021 after a standout performance at the Australian Open, where she defeated big-name competitors including Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur, and Elina Svitolina. Since then, Pegula has continued to rack up wins at major tournaments, like the 2023 and 2024 Canadian Opens as well as the 2025 Charleston Open to get to where she is today.
2. Her doubles partner was none other than Coco Gauff.
Since teaming up in 2021, Pegula and Gauff have claimed five doubles titles together, including at the 2023 Miami Open. Their incredible teamwork didn’t stop there: Later that year, they went on to become the world’s number one doubles team, marking the first all-American duo to achieve this milestone since 2012. (Gauff and Pegula were also the only regular doubles team to rank in the top 10 individually, according to the WTA.)
While the two agreed to put their doubles streak on hold to focus on their singles careers, Pegula only has praise for her teammate. “[Coco] is much more sure of herself, and knows what she wants,” Pegula told reporters last year. “Also, she is hitting that age where you are learning all that stuff. You are trying to figure out what you want, how you want it, making more of your own decisions, and we have seen that over the past year.”
3. Tennis brought Pegula closer to her Korean roots.
If you’re not already aware, Pegula is half Korean—an important aspect of her identity that she takes great pride in.
“I don’t know a lot of my heritage,” Pegula admitted in 2023. (Her mother, born in Seoul, was abandoned by her birth parents and adopted by an American family at age 5.) However, Pegula’s first trip to Korea (for the 2019 Hana Bank Korea Open) allowed her to “realize the importance of [her] heritage,” she said.
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"Even though I didn’t exactly grow up fully Korean, it’s something that now I think me and my family and my sister have also wanted to learn more about,” Pegula explained. “We realize how important it is for those that come over here and those that are in Asia, they see us in these different lights representing them when there’s not a lot of us.” This wake-up call, she said, inspired her to join the Asian American Pacific Islander Tennis Association as a founding member and on the board of directors.
4. Pegula’s dad owns the Buffalo Bills.
You might’ve seen some talk about Pegula and the Buffalo Bills on your social media feeds. That’s because, yes, her father (Terrence Pegula) owns both the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, according to Forbes.
Even though her parents became billionaires later in life, she’s seemingly managed to stay grounded, even debunking “outrageous” rumors about being spoiled. “People think I have a butler, that I get chauffeured around, I have a private limo, that I fly private everywhere. I’m definitely not like that,” Pegula told reporters during last year’s US Open press conference. (In fact, the New York native has previously taken the subway to compete in Flushing Meadows, just like most spectators.) “I’m definitely not like that.”
5. Off the court, Pegula is dedicated to rescuing dogs and making a difference.
Speaking of humility…Pegula is all about giving back to a good cause. She and her husband (who are both proud dog owners) run a charity together called A Lending Paw, which is dedicated to rescuing pups and training them to become service animals.
“We wanted to help people afford service dogs,” Pegula previously shared with Vogue. “Not only is it about dogs helping people, it’s about people helping dogs, because we only work with rescues. It goes both ways.”
6. She was trained by Venus Williams’s former coach.
For about five years Pegula was coached by David Witt, best known as Venus Williams’s longtime coach and hitting partner. (He and Williams worked together for 11 years, during which Williams reached two Grand Slam finals.)
While Pegula achieved many milestones with Witt (including breaking into the top 75), she announced last February that they would be parting ways: “David and I obviously had a lot of success, and what we were able to accomplish together was pretty amazing,” she explained at the 2024 Indian Wells Open. “But I think having started with him when I was maybe 25, and then being 30 this year, I think I’m just in a much different place—a different ranking, a different place personally and career-wise…I just felt like I needed to take some chances…I just didn’t want to look back and be like, ‘Maybe I should have tried someone else, or tried something different.’”
Now Pegula is working with Mark Knowles, former world number one doubles player who also coached Jack Sock, as well as University of Florida coach Mark Merklein.
7. At one point, Pegula considered stepping away from tennis due to a series of injuries.
Even though Pegula’s on fire now, her journey hasn’t always been so smooth. A few injuries threw a wrench in her career and kept her off the tour for over a year, including a knee injury and hip surgery in 2016, which she told reporters was “the hardest to come back from.”
“I didn’t even know if I wanted to come back,” Pegula admitted back in 2021. “This was just going to be so hard…but I think I just got over it. I was like, Whatever, I’m just going to fight through it again.” (And thank goodness she did—because now she’s made it to the US Open semifinals for the second time in a row!)
Related:
- Coco Gauff on Protein-Maxxing, Her First Labubu, and Dressing Up for the US Open
- Tennis Star Iga Swiatek Swears By Pasta With Strawberries—Here’s What a Dietitian Thinks
- Everything Naomi Osaka Has Said About Her Mental Health
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