Jessica Pegula is the daughter of a multi-billionaire. She still climbed each rung as if her life depended on it.

It takes a lot of guts to defeat the best player in the world. Yet that’s what Pegula did against Poland’s Iga Świątek to set the tone for her United Cup season at the start of the calendar. A few days later, she reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. She has made it to this stage of the table five times in the last six major tournaments.

Audacity, front and constancy, above all, will have been the key elements in the rush to the top of Pegula. She’s not the most powerful, the most eccentric, or the most dominant of players, but she didn’t climb all the way to No. 3 in the world by chance.

The career of the American has something to impress, because she drew it in her own way.

Wealthy, but dedicated

Buffalo native Jessica is one of Terry Pegula’s five children. This petroleum engineer made his fortune in the field of natural gas and real estate for nearly 30 years. He is best known, however, for buying the NHL’s Buffalo Sabers and NFL’s Buffalo Bills with his Pegula Sports and Entertainment group.

Mr. Pegula’s fortune is valued at nearly US$7 billion.

That’s why her daughter’s story is so fascinating.

Jessica Pegula is practically guaranteed to inherit a nice jackpot one day or another. She could secure her future by taking a top job in one of her father’s companies. However, she still preferred to go it alone by trying her luck at tennis.

To achieve this, the 28-year-old athlete chose the same path as most of her rivals. A journey where the family fortune matters little.

Jessica Pegula has turned her back on American universities and their scholarships. She wanted to turn pro on her own.

Pegula played on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit from 2009 to 2020, as she was unable to play consistently in the WTA. For nearly 11 years, she was content with $50,000 tournaments, collecting only a few hundred, dragging her bundle to Saguenay, Granby, Kentucky and Virginia, among other places, in the hope of achieving her dream. Even if a place of choice was reserved for him in the glazed offices of Highmark Stadium.

Of his approximately 400 career games played, 227 have been played on the ITF circuit.

Although she blazed her own trail, Pegula didn’t deny her family. On the contrary. She is passionate about her family heritage. When she was in Quebec, she regularly attended Remparts games. On social networks, she encourages her Bills. After her first round match in Australia, she wrote “Go Bills #3” accompanied by a heart, in tribute to Damar Hamlin, player of the Bills, a few days after his tragic accident.

Slowly but surely

Pegula is currently experiencing the best moments of her career. She is the second oldest player in the top 10, behind the French Caroline Garcia, but she keeps getting better. She lives her career as a cross-country skier; the older she gets, the better she is.

The American may be the heiress of a family that does not care about the bargains of the week at the grocery store, money does not buy talent. It can help to climb the ladder, most certainly. It can be useful for hiring the best coaches or paying for trips abroad, but fortune will never buy a backhand down the line or passing in a break point situation.

Pegula is not a great technician. His game is not always clean. Nor is she a prodigy. His greatest strength lies in always finding a way, no matter how unorthodox, to end the point with a clenched fist.

His stability on the court and his way of taking the ball anywhere in the rebound, adapting to it and hitting the lines remain his greatest strengths.

The right-hander eats so much of her sport that she also plays doubles. In fact, she also excels in doubles. As in singles, she is ranked fourth in the world rankings in women’s doubles. She evolves alongside the young American sensation Coco Gauff. They have been amazing since the beginning of their union.

Together, they won three titles in 2022, in Doha, Toronto and San Diego. Pegula won two more with other partners.

In singles, she has only two triumphs, the most recent in Guadalajara at the end of last season.

It will have to accumulate others if it wishes to be recognized at its fair value.