"It really bothers me" - Jessica Pegula makes brutally honest admission about her 'sloppy' performance after shock Canadian Open exit

Jessica Pegula was dealt a heartbreak in Montreal as she lost in the second round of the ongoing Canadian Open. After her shock exit, Pegula made a brutally honest admission about her performance on the court in recent events.

Pegula, who made an early exit at the Wimbledon Championships and the Mubadala Citi DC Open, arrived in Montreal as the third seed. She began her campaign against Maria Sakkari and narrowly avoided an upset, winning the match 7-5, 6-4 to make it through to the second round. In her second-round encounter, the American ran into Anastasija Sevastova. While Pegula was the favorite for the win on paper, Sevastova ousted her 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 over a lengthy match.

After the match, Jessica Pegula reflected on her performance in recent tournaments, telling media,

“I don't really feel like I'm playing great tennis. At times I am, but I feel very up and down, kind of sloppy, which I don't like. It really bothers me. I'm kind of a perfectionist, so I don't like having to say that. I feel like I've gone through phases in my career, a few tournaments, where I feel like that sometimes, and you have to figure out how to get out of it and not feel sorry for yourself or make excuses. I've got to figure it out.”

With her early exit, Pegula’s hopes for a third consecutive title at the Canadian Open have also come to a close.

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Jessica Pegula reveals her focus for the Cincinnati Open

Pegula at the National Bank Open (Image Source: Getty)

In her second-round encounter against Anastasija Sevastova at the Canadian Open, Jessica Pegula had several break opportunities at crucial moments in the second and third games. However, the American failed to convert these opportunities.

With the Cincinnati Open, a WTA 1000 event, just around the corner, Pegula admitted that her focus for the tournament is going to be on the ‘big points’, saying in a press conference,

“Going into Cincy I think that's definitely going to be my main focus. Every single match is focusing on those big points and those big games because I do think I am playing some good tennis to get up in these matches, and there's times where I'm reeling off six, seven really good games, and then it kind of falls away. So I've got to figure out how to kind of sustain that higher level against these good players.”

The Cincinnati Open is scheduled to take place from August 7-18. Jessica Pegula’s best performance at the event was a runner-up finish in 2024, when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

Edited by Riddhi Acharya