‘Take That Serena Williams!’ – Jessica Pegula Jokes As She Gets Honest About American No. 1 Tag at Wimbledon

Jessica Pegula has redeemed herself after her disappointing first-round exit at last year’s Wimbledon Championships, making a stellar return to the grass-court Major. Following her first-round win, Pegula opened up about her American No. 1 status and revealed what it was like to be in the same draw as Serena Williams, who is making her singles comeback at SW19.

How Jessica Pegula Feels About Being the American No. 1 at Wimbledon

No. 4 seed Pegula squared off against Darja Vidmanova in her opening match at Wimbledon, securing a 7-5, 6-3 victory to advance to the second round. The 32-year-old appeared on the Tennis Channel after her triumph, where she was asked about Serena Williams drawing more attention at the grass-court Major, even though she was the top-ranked American.

Pegula shared an amusing response to her apparent edge over the 23-time Grand Slam champion, saying, “Take that Serena!”

She also explained why she doesn’t place too much importance on being the American No. 1, highlighting the depth of women’s tennis and the narrow margin separating her from her compatriots, as evidenced by Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff following close behind her as the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds.

“I don’t know. There’s so many of us and we’re all like so close. I don’t think I ever feel like, ‘Oh man, I’m the top ranked.’ Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to say or it’s fun to hear that being told to me, but there’s so many good Americans. And women’s tennis right now, the depth is so good that it I don’t know if it really does anything for me other than it’s really cool and like an honor to be the No. 1 ranked American,” Pegula said.

Additionally, the world No. 4 expressed delight at being in the same draw as Williams, saying, “It’s actually kind of cool to say I am in a draw with Serena. So, that’s kind of cool. I’ll add that to the list.”

Pegula’s delight comes as no surprise, given that she previously hailed the 23-time Grand Slam champion as the “Queen of Wimbledon.” Speaking to Access Hollywood before Indian Wells earlier this season, she even correctly predicted the grass-court Major as the site of Williams’ singles comeback.

“There has been. No one really knows. She’s keeping us on our toes, which isn’t a surprise because it’s Serena. I just saw a video, like yesterday, of her hitting, with another player and I kind of feel like she’s thinking about coming back. I kind of see her coming back maybe at like Wimbledon, because she’s like the Queen of Wimbledon, her and Venus,” she said.

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All eyes will indeed be on Serena Williams when she kicks off her singles campaign against Maya Joint on Tuesday, June 30. Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula is set to lock horns with Sara Sorribes Tormo in the second round.