Pegula talks about a family drama. Her further career was in doubt

“The time is right,” Jessica Pegula tweeted, announcing her article on The Players’ Tribune. This is where texts by world-class athletes about their journey to the top appear. In January, an article by Iga Świątek was published there, who recalled her beginnings and how her life changed after the triumph at Roland Garros 2020, when she won the first of three Grand Slam titles. Now the columns have been made available to Pegula, and the American focused on the story from less than a year ago, when her family suffered a tragedy – her mother had a cardiac arrest.

Two weeks of living in the hospital. “We were all mentally and physically exhausted”

Last year, in the eyes of fans, the 28-year-old was associated only as a series of her sporting successes. Turns out she’s been struggling with family drama in the meantime. Tragedy occurred in June when she returned to Florida after a successful performance at the French Open. There, she reached the quarter-finals of singles and the final of doubles, and also secured her debut promotion to the Top 10.

The events that followed a few days later brutally pushed the joy of success into the background. Around midnight, the tennis player was called by her sister Kelly, who resuscitated Kim’s mother until paramedics arrived.

We stayed in the hospital for two weeks. We had a shift system, we brought each other food, we knew all the doctors and nurses, we even knew their schedules. We had to force my dad to go home to take a nap. Mostly he didn’t. He sat in the car or came to my house. He didn’t want to go back to his own until his mother was there – the tennis player recalls in the article.

– When they say that after one day in the hospital you recover for a week, it’s not a joke. We were all mentally and physically exhausted.

When the second week of her mother’s stay in the hospital began, Pegula began to return to training a bit. She treated it as an escape from the hospital and an attempt to focus on something else. She missed most of the grass court season. Knowing that her mother had the worst behind her, she performed in Wimbledon. During the tournament, she struggled with sinusitis and questions about her mother. As she recalls, she even had to deny rumors about the death of Kim Pegula.

“I had some valuable wins and was proud to be able to go out and compete, given the situation,” sums up the American, who was eliminated in the third round in London.

She also recalls that when her mother’s health had stabilized a bit, her friends who were doctors said it was a miracle that the woman was able to start rehabilitation after two weeks. The fourth rocket of the world, however, has no illusions that her mother still has a long way to go.

“He’s still fighting to recover, he’s making progress every day. He has speech disorders and memory problems. It’s hard to deal with and requires a lot of patience to communicate with her, but I thank God every day that we’re still able to communicate with her at all. Doctors are very impressed with her progress, considering the starting point.

“She won’t be able to be that person any longer.” Pegula’s life turned upside down

And Kim Pegula in the sports world is not just Jessica’s mother. She is primarily a thriving businesswoman for years. She and her husband are the primary owners of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. She is also president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the holding company that manages the Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabers, lacrosse and minor league hockey teams. The tennis player emphasizes that her mother was always very hardworking and cared about employees.

“Now we realize that most of it is gone.” She won’t be able to be that person anymore. Of course, first of all it was a family tragedy. Add to that all of her commitments and it becomes overwhelmingly overwhelming for anyone involved right now.

The American admits that her mother wanted her to take over her duties in the family business after the end of her tennis career. And she wanted more responsibility now.

And here I am, caught up in discussions with my family regarding my mother’s care, carers, doctors, therapy, and, perhaps least importantly, my tennis career. Suddenly your world is turned upside down and you have no idea what the hell is going on,” the 28-year-old confides.

And she adds that at some point her further career on the court was in question.

“Suddenly I went from ‘let’s celebrate the top 10’ to ‘do I need to start thinking about my post-tennis career much sooner than I thought?’ to ‘do my dad and family need help?’ to ‘maybe I should go back to school and work for the family.’ . I’m 28 years old and I’m proud of how I deal with any difficult situation, but it was a lot – she admits.

As an important moment, he recalls the November triumph in the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament in Guadalajara. Before the final, she cried in the locker room. As she assures, they were not tears of sadness, but of joy, because she felt that she would win. She dedicated the precious title to her mother in a speech.

“I wanted her to know that even after those terrible six months, I still fought every day for her sake. If she can fight after what she’s been through, so can I. She cried during the decorations and my speech. I’ve dreamed of this career since I was seven years old. My parents helped me fulfill this dream that I live now. We didn’t always agree, but our friction with each other got me where I am today. My mother – after what she went through – deserved to see me raise the trophy – emphasizes Pegula.

The drama of the young football player reminded Pegula of his own family tragedy

Another difficult moment for her came in January. At that time, 24-year-old Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest. Pegula then took part in the United Cup team tournament.

My stomach tightened as I felt it happening again. I was sitting on a bench in Sydney and I wanted to throw up. I was supposed to play a mixed doubles game in 15 minutes and I told someone in the team that I was a bit crazy and I felt like I was going to have a panic attack. Things like this don’t normally happen to me, but it broke my heart to think what Damar and his family were going through. I knew how important time is. I was still thinking about it – says Pegula in the article.

However, she then went out on the court and won the entire competition with the US team. Then she began to feel an increasing desire to talk about her mother’s health. Previously, she and the rest of her family had kept it a secret from most people.

“I need to get it out,” she wrote in one of her messages to her husband.

In Melbourne, during the Australian Open, she began writing the quoted article. She says it was a form of therapy for her. And in the tournament she played with a three pinned to her outfit – this is the number Hamlin wears on the pitch.

But it wasn’t just for him. It was also for my mother. She is still working hard, but it is not known how it will end. Friends who knew everything used to say to me, “I don’t know how you made it through and still finished a year as world number three.” I have no idea either. One thing I learned then is that it can be a great year and a bad year, and both can be true at the same time.

And she adds that she is grateful that her mother survived. The woman now spends time at home watching the Bills and Sabers games and her daughter’s tennis matches.

She’d never done it before because she was too nervous. Now she watches them all – emphasizes the 28-year-old.