Jessica Pegula admitted that Coco Gauff poked fun at her over generational things like TikTok (Image: Getty)
Jessica Pegula has admitted that Coco Gauff often makes fun of her because she doesn’t know any TikTok trends. The Americans have cemented themselves as one of the best doubles pairings in the world as well as being two top singles players. And they’re now setting their sights on taking an Olympic medal home at next year’s games.
Pegula and Gauff partnered up in early 2022 and enjoyed instant success when they won the Doha WTA 1000 and reached the French Open final. Since then, they have picked up two more big titles and, this year, they reached the world No 1 ranking in doubles.
Their partnership has drawn a lot of attention, given that both women are also consistent top five singles players. There is also a sizeable 10-year age gap between them, and Pegula has now revealed that Gauff often pokes fun at her for some generational differences.
“She’s definitely Gen Z,” Pegula told Forbes. “I didn’t really notice it and then as we started hanging out more, just being together more on tour, I’m like, ‘Okay yeah there’s definitely a generational gap here.’ No friction but she makes fun of me because I don’t know about any of the TikTok trends and stuff like that but it’s more poking fun at each other.”
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Pegula admitted it was cool to be the only player to beat Gauff during the North American swing (Image: Getty)
As they have worked their way up the doubles rankings, both Pegula and Gauff have also made strides in the singles. They dominated the North American hard-court summer as Gauff won the Washington Open, the Cincinnati WTA 1000 and her first Grand Slam title at the US Open.
The only player to beat her during that stretch was Pegula, who then went on to lift the trophy at the Montreal WTA 1000. Asked about their relationship, the 29-year-old admitted that it was nice to have the bragging rights over her partner.
“I mean, I think it’s cool that I was the only one to beat her this summer before she won the US Open,” Pegula smiled. The world No 5 also shut down any suggestions that facing off as singles rivals could make things difficult on the doubles court.
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Jessica Pegula explained what it was like to face Coco Gauff on the singles court (Image: Getty)
She continued: “We’re very friendly about it. I think we’ve learned a lot from each other from playing doubles. And we have a lot of fun playing doubles, even if we have to play singles, it’s not that big of a deal. We’re used to it and I think most girls are used to sometimes having to play singles against your doubles partner.”
With Gauff being a teenage sensation and Pegula being a slow burner, their singles careers couldn’t be more different. It took until 2021 for Pegula to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final while Gauff got to the fourth round of Wimbledon as a 15-year-old qualifier back in 2019 – her first Major tournament.
It has meant that they have been able to learn from each other as Pegula added: “I think it’s more just been a really fun journey that both of us have been on at different points of our career, totally different learning curves. She’s done all this so young and me being a late bloomer, it’s very different.
“But I think we’ve gotten to learn from each other at the same time and it’s been really cool to see what she’s done and we have a good relationship on and off the court. We’re obviously very competitive but at the same time I think we learn a lot from each other which is nice.”
Pegula and Gauff recently announced that they would likely scale back how many doubles tournaments they played together. But the American duo won’t be splitting up any time soon as they both share the same goal – winning the Paris Olympics. “Hopefully we can play Olympics next year, I know that’s a goal that she really wanted to try and get a medal there and for me too,” the 29-year-old said.
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