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Jessica Pegula wasn't impressed with a journalist who somehow found a way to blame her 2023 Wimbledon exit on her family's wealth, ripping it as "clickbait trash."
Pegula's family, who owns the NFL's Buffalo Bills and the NHL's Buffalo Sabres, is one of the wealthiest families in the United States. Terry Pegula, the father of the American tennis star, has a net worth of $6.8 billion. Due to her family's background, some have labeled Pegula as "the wealthiest tennis player in the world."
Over the last few years, Pegula has been one of the most and most consistent players in women's still. Although Pegula has come very close to reaching a Grand Slam semifinal on several instances, she has yet to make a breakthrough at the Slam level.
During last year's Wimbledon, Pegula was inches away from making her first Grand Slam semifinal, having led 4-1 in the third set of her quarterfinal match against Marketa Vondrousova. Unfortunately for Pegula, her level suddenly dropped and she lost the match after losing the next five games. With that loss, Pegula's Slam quarterfinal record dropped to 0-6.
In Netflix's tennis documentary "Break Point," Pegula was shown social media posts of people mocking the American by saying that her family's wealth couldn't get her over the line at a Slam. Also, Pegula was shown an article that claimed she “needs (a) dynamic that family billions can't buy."
Pegula: What kind of clickbait trash is this?
“The journalists that write about me have no freaking clue. I can’t buy my way into a semi-final. I was just like, what kind of clickbait trash is this? I would definitely give up everything to win tournaments," Pegula said in the documentary.
“I hate when people write horrible stuff on social media or online. I don’t think I owe anything to prove those people wrong."
Last year, Pegula made two Grand Slam quarterfinals. At the start of the 2023 season, Pegula was beaten by Victoria Azarenka in the Australian Open quarterfinal. Then as already mentioned, Pegula lost to Vondrousova at Wimbledon.
Now, Pegula is set to compete at the Australian Open, where she was a quarterfinalist in each of the past three years. It remains to be seen if Pegula can make another deep Australian Open run but this time go at least one step further.