Jessica pegula

A hot topic again at this year's French Open has been players not speaking to the media after matches to protect their mental health. On Sunday night, Aryna Sabalenka pulled out of doing a post-match open news conference for the second round running after saying she did not feel safe in a previous one. Two years ago there was a similar issue when Naomi Osaka did not want to speak to the media to protect her mental health. I guess the French Open are now being more empathetic about players' mental health needs surrounding press conferences. What Naomi did alerted people to the possibility of doing what Sabalenka did and for the tournament to work ways around it. Sabalenka still found a way to do press, giving quotes to the Women's Tennis Association, which were then distributed to other reporters. She has been hammered with questions about the war in Ukraine and Belarus' support of Russia. She clearly felt enough was enough. I think that's her right. It's the right of the press to ask the questions they want to ask, but also it is her right not to answer them if she doesn't want to answer them. After I had a really tough loss in the singles on Friday, I was not really in the mood to speak to the media. Luckily there was only one person who asked for a couple of quotes so I gave them to the WTA anyway without having to do an open news conference. I think the tournament is now more flexible because of what happened with Naomi. That's a good thing. Of course, speaking to the m...

Elise Mertens is through to the fourth round of the French Open for a second successive year French Open 2023 Dates: 28 May-11 June Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Coverage: Live text and radio commentaries of selected matches across BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, the BBC Sport website and app Jessica Pegula became the highest-ranked women's player to exit the 2023 French Open to date as she was emphatically beaten by Elise Mertens. Belgian 28th seed Mertens will face Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round. Pegula's time at Roland Garros is not over as she is through to the women's doubles second round with Coco Gauff. The pair reached the final in 2022, and the semi-finals at the Australian Open earlier this year. Pegula, whose preparations for the French Open were derailed by food poisoning , was the 21st seed to exit the women's singles inside six days of action. Friday proved a much easier day for Belarusian world number two Aryna Sabalenka , however, as she comfortably defeated Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2 6-2. Sabalenka, crowned Australian Open champion in January, will take on Sloane Stephens in the fourth round, after the American beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3 3-6 6-2. • I didn't feel safe in news conference - Sabalenka Ninth seed Daria Kasatkina also progressed, making light work of American Peyton Stearns in a 6-0 6-1 win. The Russian will face Ukraine's Elina Svitolina next, after she came from behind to defeat Anna Blinkova - also of Russia - 2-6 6-2 7-5. She...

Personal: Parents are Terrence and Kim; brothers are Michael and Matthew, sisters are Laura and Kelly...Introduced to tennis by family at age seven...Favorite shot is backhand down the line...Favorite tournament is the US Open...Tennis idol was Martina Hingis...Owns her own skincare company called 'Ready 24'...Also enjoys golf, sports and design...Nickname is JP...Her parents bought the Buffalo Bills in 2014 and have owned the Buffalo Sabers since 2010, with her mother serving as the president of both organizations...Mother Kim Pegula was adopted at five from Korea where she was abandoned...Jessica and her sister Kelly own a health-focused cafe, The Healthy Scratch...Engaged to Taylor Gahagen, who works for the Pegulas’ sports management team...They founded “A Lending Paw,” a charity that connects people with rescued and trained service animals.