Jessica Pegula revealed in a light-hearted manner that there was no need for her to bribe Coco Gauff to play doubles with her at Wimbledon because the 20-year-old American was a woman of her word.
Since Pegula was injured for pretty much the entire clay season, she and Gauff didn't get a chance to play at the French Open and keep their tradition of playing doubles together at Grand Slams. And while Pegula was injured, Gauff found a replacement and teamed up with one of the biggest doubles names, Katerina Siniakova - they ended up winning the French Open in their team debut.
For Pegula and Gauff, the disappointing thing about not playing doubles at the French Open was the fact that it would serve them as a great preparation for the Paris Olympics - the Olympic tennis event will take place on the courts of Roland Garros.
But after Gauff won the French Open with Siniakova, she got back to playing doubles with Pegula after the 30-year-old American recovered from her injury. And after playing in Berlin, the American star duo is also set to compete at Wimbledon.
Pegula asked if she had to give Gauff any money to get her away from Siniakova
Appearing on Tennis Channel after her Wimbledon singles first-round win over Ashlyn Krueger, Pegula was asked by Martina Navratilova if it was hard to get Gauff away from Siniakova and if she had to offer any money.
"I mean Siniakova, she's an amazing doubles player too. I didn't even know they were playing until they were like in the quarters and I was like, 'Oh, I didn't even realize,' because I wasn't following that much at home with the time change so it's funny. But luckily I think I asked her (Gauff for doubles) like before that. I already like had it locked down," Pegula said on Tennis Channel.
Navratiova then interjected Pegula a bit by stating that Gauff is someone who keeps her word.
"Yeah, yeah. She did yeah. So that's nice. But hopefully we can maybe get some momentum here. I know it's not clay but at least for the Olympics. It's nice, obviously her getting a doubles Slam is really cool and then hopefully you know we seem to play well the doubles. So for the Olympics, I think it'll be fun," Pegula added.
At this year's Wimbledon, Pegula and Gauff are the No. 11 seeds and they are scheduled to start their doubles campaign on Thursday by taking on Anhelina Kalinina and Dayana Yastremska. That will be the first time that the two doubles pairs will be clashing against each other.
In the past, Pegula and Gauff had three early Wimbledon exits but reached the quarterfinal last year. And considering that Pegula and Gauff are Slam runners-up in doubles and have been one of the best doubles in the last few years when they play, they are definitely among the contenders for the 2024 Wimbledon doubles title.
Pegula will also team up with Gauff at the Paris Olympics later this month
For quite some time, it has been known that Pegula and Gauff plan to play doubles together at the Paris Olympics. And while their main focus in Paris will be on the singles event, they will also have the highest possible goals in the doubles.
You don't usually see a lot of players playing, but for us I think we enjoy it, and we use it as a chance to get better in singles as well. To us it's kind of fun that we get to go out and even if we lose singles or whatever happens, go out and it's another chance to compete. It's another chance where we want to win," Pegula said last summer.
Once you get out there and you're in the moment and you want to win the match, it all kind of feels the same. So I think for us it's more like extra motivation, and I think it keeps us in that competitive mindset of, OK, we're still in these pressure moments even if it's doubles, and we still want to win the match, and we still want to get better.'
I know she's [Gauff] told me she really wants to win a medal next year, and she really wants a Slam, so that's kind of what we're working towards. I think you have to play other events if those are your goals."
But for now, Pegula and Gauff's focus remains on Wimbledon, where they will try to win their first Slam doubles title as a pair.
