Avec Jessica Pegula, c'est noir ou blanc. Forfait pour son premier tournoi de la saison en raison d'une blessure au genou, l'Américaine a tout de même disputé le WTA 500 d'Adélaïde quelques jours plus tard... et atteint la finale. Elle a d'ailleurs récupéré la 6e place mondiale à Elena Rybakina avant l'Open d'Australie. Arrivée dans les dernières minutes à Melbourne, la joueuse de 30 ans a tenu sa conférence de presse avec un peu de retard, ce dimanche, mais évoqué sa forme avant le premier grand rendez-vous de la saison. Elle défiera la dangereuse locale de 18 ans, Maya Joint, lundi.
Photo : @AustralianOpen
Photo : @AustralianOpen
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00:00Yeah, it was always really nice to get a good first weekend, you know, it was my first tournament
00:08of 2025, so I think it kind of went pretty much how I wanted it to go in terms of trying
00:14to get matches, testing out my body physically after the knee injury in Saudi, kind of got
00:20everything I feel like I needed before coming into Melbourne here, so super excited to kind
00:25of just get going tomorrow.
00:26Okay, first question.
00:27Ben.
00:29How are you feeling physically after obviously how last year ended with things breaking down
00:33a bit for you, and what was the sort of recovery?
00:36Yeah, I just had a little bit of a knee thing, it was kind of lingering, it started in Asia
00:41and then it kind of just kept getting worse through Saudi, it was something I kind of
00:45honestly thought was going to go away, and then in Saudi I'm not sure if maybe playing
00:49on that indoor surface can be tricky sometimes on the body, if it just, I don't know, it
00:53just really flared up, but luckily was able to kind of manage it throughout the off-season
00:59and to be honest it wasn't perfect, as I would have loved to try and play Brisbane probably,
01:04but it just didn't really work out with just as far as getting enough training in before
01:08flying over here, I wanted to make sure physically I felt like ready to go, so just kind of needed
01:13that extra week, but I guess it worked out perfect in hindsight, obviously maybe if I
01:20lost early in Adelaide I maybe wouldn't be saying that, but I think luckily it worked
01:24out and I'm feeling pretty good now.
01:28Courtney?
01:29Hey Jess, in terms of just the, not just the recovery process, but getting back to training
01:34and everything, how much did the focus on trying to kind of get healthy again impact
01:40maybe how you prepared for the new season, like were you able to continue to work on
01:44the stuff that you and the marks were working on improving, or was it just more about getting
01:50to kind of stasis, you know, getting...
01:52Yeah, I mean it was tough at first, it was kind of one of those things as soon as we
01:55kind of started to push I'd have to kind of drop back for a few days and then push
01:59again and it was just kind of frustrating because I felt like I couldn't quite do as
02:03much as I wanted to for like a longer period of time, so I mean again it probably wasn't
02:08ideal as far as that, but there was still a lot of stuff that we could work on without
02:14you know, even having said with the knee injury, but yeah, so to be honest, no, not really,
02:19I didn't get to work on everything and then it goes so fast with the holidays and everything,
02:25but you know, we did get to work on still quite a few things and again, taking that
02:29extra week I think really helped me kind of just, you know, be able to clean up some of
02:35the things that I was working on in my game, but yeah, hopefully have to try to implement
02:39some stuff during tournaments, I guess.
02:41I don't know how much you think about this in an optimistic or attacking sort of way
02:47or something, but you don't have a lot of points to defend for a bunch of months coming
02:50up.
02:51Does that affect how you're scheduling?
02:52Do you still like making those sort of incremental ranks, pushes within the top 10, is that something
02:56that can drive you?
02:57Yeah, definitely.
02:58I think I always like having those goals, even though that's not necessarily, you know,
03:02my whole priority anymore is rankings or points, but at the same time, that's kind of why I
03:08decided like if I, you know, push it too early and then kind of set myself back, I knew that
03:14I didn't have a lot of points and I wanted to be able to be really healthy for the, especially
03:17the first half of the year, because I don't have a lot of points to defend and obviously
03:21the second half of the year, I have a lot more.
03:23So I think it definitely, for the long-term and the longevity of the year, it definitely
03:28comes into play.
03:29At least for me, I wanted to be able to take that extra week and make sure I was properly
03:33prepared because it's not just, you know, last week or, I mean, obviously it's a slam,
03:39so it's a priority, but I wanted to make sure I felt good after this and that kind of whole
03:44swing Indy Wells, Miami, Middle East, which I skipped, and then obviously the clay season
03:48I skipped too.
03:50So definitely it's something I think about.
03:52Courtney.
03:53Just how, looking back on it now, how critical was kind of last year and the success obviously
04:00that you had on the back half of the season?
04:01Because I remember at the start of the year, obviously the burnout, but also like, oh,
04:05you just turned 30.
04:06It was like different coaching changes, like it would have been very easy if the results
04:10hadn't come to think it's kind of on the backside of things.
04:15So now that you're away from it, how important do you think it would have been?
04:20If the results had not gone that way?
04:22I mean, yeah, it would have sucked.
04:24It would have been not as ideal, but my year was so up and down.
04:28Like you're saying, I don't think I would have been that really upset because there
04:31was just injuries, coaching changes, health issue.
04:35Like there's a lot of things going on, but it just goes to show you that if you can just
04:39kind of get back on track and put together a good couple of weeks that you can have some
04:43great results.
04:44And I think it proved to myself that maybe I don't need as many matches as I think I
04:49do, that I can still find that confidence and play some really good tennis, even if
04:54the matches and the schedule isn't perfect.
04:56Again, I think even last week it was a nice reminder that even though the year didn't
05:01end great for me, I wasn't playing well, didn't get a perfect preseason, I was still able
05:05to play some good tennis and put together a really solid week before a slam and beat
05:09some good players.
05:10So it was a nice reminder, I think, that even if things aren't going perfectly, that you
05:18can still have good results and turn it around.
05:19And I think that's something, again, last year was definitely a way more up and down
05:24year than I've had the few years before, where I just felt like I was playing all the time
05:28and having decent results all the time.
05:29So it was definitely more of a challenge, but again, a nice reminder that I'm still
05:34a top player, that I can still have great results.
05:36Obviously being healthy helps, but that I don't need to play all the time to have that
05:42confidence.
05:43We'll do two or three more.
05:44We'll go here, here, and then Ben.
05:45Yeah.
05:46Jessica, hi.
05:47You're playing in my adjoint first round, an OC1, 18 years old.
05:53What do you know about her?
05:54Of course, she's coming from a semifinal.
05:56She played really well in Brisbane.
05:58She played against Pasarenka.
06:01What do you know about her and what do you expect about the match?
06:05Yeah.
06:06I remember watching her play Maddie at the US Open, so I do remember kind of watching
06:11that match.
06:12And then I saw her results obviously in Brisbane and then she was playing well in Hobart.
06:17So I mean, it seems like a really good, young, talented player.
06:20Obviously coming here, nothing to lose, wild card, also with a lot of confidence, especially
06:25from last week.
06:26I think it's going to be a really tough match.
06:29You know, only having a day here as well to kind of get used to the conditions.
06:32And of course it rained today, so I wasn't able to hit outside.
06:36But I mean, same thing.
06:38I just came off a great week too, so I'm feeling pretty good.
06:41But yeah, it's always tough playing a player where you don't have a lot of familiarity
06:45there.
06:47And someone who, I feel like playing someone like that, they're confident and they're going
06:51to bring their best game and nothing to lose, like I said.
06:54But I'll just try to take it, you know, as a good challenge and hopefully it'll be a
06:58good crowd as well, playing Aussie and Australia here.
07:01We'll do two more here and then Ben.
07:03Jess, the Bills have got a good game in the morning.
07:05Yes.
07:06How are you going to watch it and be confident they're going to beat the Broncos?
07:11I think it's on what, like 5 a.m. here time, so probably won't be up that early.
07:17Maybe catch like the second half of it.
07:19Yes, obviously I think they have a great chance to win this game, but I don't know, it just
07:24makes me nervous.
07:25It's kind of like a slam.
07:26Like you never really know what's going to happen, playoff start.
07:29You have the favorites, but you never know what's going to happen.
07:31So I hope they win.
07:34I hope they can come out also very healthy if they do win.
07:38No major injuries.
07:39That would be great.
07:40I think staying healthy for those NFL teams is massive in the playoffs, so hopefully they
07:45get a good win and no injuries.
07:47Okay, last one, Ben.
07:49Is it different being at a slam for the first time since you played seven matches at one?
07:53I mean, just sort of having been all the way to the end last time, does it unlock something
07:58that you think it can be something you understand more your first time, you know, having done
08:02that already?
08:03Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a challenge.
08:05Having to stay locked in for two weeks is not easy.
08:09Weekends can be stressful.
08:10The days are long.
08:11There's a lot of people.
08:12You're constantly like way overstimulated.
08:15So I think I learned a lot from those two weeks at the U.S. Open, learning how to balance
08:18that and kind of like I said before, I took that challenge of playing well in Toronto
08:24and Cincy as well as again, like a challenge for me to be able to focus for those two weeks
08:31and not get too high, not get too low physically, mentally.
08:36And I think that helped going into the U.S. Open.
08:38So definitely learned a lot from just that month in general of having to play a lot of
08:42matches and try and, you know, win big matches and play your best tennis day in and day out.
08:48So hopefully that experience will help me these two weeks and the rest of the year.