By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday, April 27, 2023
Previous to 2022, Jessica Pegula was 11-12 lifetime on clay with only one quarterfinal (2021 Rome) to her identify. Since then the American has blossomed in each manner – even on clay.
Pegula is 14-5 on clay because the begin of 2022, that variety of course bolstered by her grand breakout in Madrid final yr, the place she reached her first 1000 degree remaining. That she did it on clay doesn’t go unnoticed in Pegula’s thoughts.
“That was my first 1000 remaining, undoubtedly was an enormous step for me, not to mention being on clay, I feel was sort of a bit of little bit of a shock, to myself and different individuals,” she advised the media on the Madrid Open this week. “It gave me a number of confidence I feel, beginning the entire clay swing going into the French Open, it actually helped.”
The present World No.3, who went on to succeed in the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros final June, says the journey to the ultimate on the Magic Field has modified her view of what’s doable for her on clay.
“It undoubtedly modified my perspective of what I might do at massive occasions,” she mentioned. “I used to be all the time shut however I feel making that remaining was an enormous deal. And I had a extremely good match with Ons, who had a extremely nice clay-court season that yr, I feel remaining in Rome as properly. “It undoubtedly gave me much more confidence on the floor.”
Pegula, who reached the semifinals on the inexperienced clay earlier this month in Charleston, will get her marketing campaign underway when she fades Poland’s Magdalena Frech in second-round motion on Friday in Madrid.
