With filthy rich parents who have made shiploads from oil, gas and the sports empire, her own skincare line and consecutive wins at tennis tournaments, it is no wonder that the American tennis star Jessica Pegula is the richest tennis player with a net worth of over $6 billion dollar. Her journey up to the world number 4 ranking might not be that of the ‘rags-to-riches’ style but it is definitely a cool story.
Kim Pegula is JP’s mother, who is also a very well established businesswoman. However, that is not how her story starts. Kim was left outside a police station soon after she was born. She was adopted by the Kerrs and worked her way up to now be the president and CEO of the Pegula sports and entertainment. This led to Jessica Pegula, her first daughter to have a rather sophisticated and privileged upbringing.
Jessica Pegula: early days, background
Jessica, the oldest of three Pegula siblings, was introduced to tennis at a very young age. Born to Terrance and Kim Pegula, Jessica has always been a very hard-working and determined child. She was enrolled in tennis programs since she was just four years old where she trained meticulously. Playing four games a day, she was training as hard as she can from this very young age at tennis camps throughout the country.
Before she knew it, she was in middle school also dominating at the American, European and ITF tournaments. In high school, she ranked in the top national top 10. This gave her an award of a full scholarship to play for University. JP rejected this offer to focus on her education and completed her graduation in 2017. After this break, she got back to playing professional tennis again.
Jessica Pegula proudly affirms that her mother is her biggest strength. “My mom is fearless. That’s always been her biggest strength. I’m not sure she ever cared about or even saw the barriers that were in front of her entering the sports world, a male-dominated field without a ton of Asian American representation. She broke these barriers without even knowing it.”
How the tennis star surpassed modern-day tennis greats?
After her graduation, Jessica got back into the field and immediately shone. She went on to win her first WTA singles title against defeating the great Venus Williams at Citi Open in 2019. She has gotten to the quarterfinals of Australian Open (2021, 2022), Roland Garros and the US Open in the 2022 season.
Though she may not be the most varied player, Pegula undoubtedly has a clean and precise repertoire of shots with immaculately timed delivery. She has a rather mellow persona in the field but the mixed views people have of her does not affect her resilience and passion in her matches.
Jessica Pegula is one of the players to look out in the forthcoming seasons.
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