World’s richest tennis ace threatened to smash her rackets in meltdown

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Tennis’ richest player Jessica Pegula admitted that she came close to smashing all of her rackets in her victory over Irina Begu at the Charleston Open. The American had won the opening set and looked certain to claim the second, but for a stunning turnaround by Begu – much to Pegula’s frustration.

After Pegula had defeated the Romanian 6-4, she cruised into an early 4-0 lead in the second set as the result appeared to be a foregone conclusion. However, Begu came back and won six consecutive sets to win 6-4 – much to the surprise of supporters and her opponent.

Pegula was visibly frustrated that she allowed her opponent to mount a fightback, though then rallied by winning six games in a row herself on her way to victory. She struggled to explain the run that Begu went on, but admitted that the frustration nearly led to her smashing all of her rackets.

“I have no idea [what happened], honestly,” Pegula said after the match. “I don’t know at one point I was about to smash all my rackets and the next thing you know I’m here so that sentence though it’s never over until it’s over.

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“I mean, I just tried to get one game because there’s a lot of games that I lost in a row. So I tried to get one game, then I tried to finally hold one game and then I just kept it rolling. So I’m just glad I was able to get there.

“I’m just tough. I’m going to tough it out and I’m not going to give it to you and even though I had a swing there, you know, I kind of went off and she started playing some great tennis. I’m just tough.”

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Pegula did advance to the quarter-finals, however, where she defeated Spaniard Paula Badosa in straight sets to reach the final four. She will take on Belinda Bencic, hopefully with all of her rackets intact by the end of the match. Though if she was to smash them as she came close to already this tournament, the 29-year-old would have little trouble replacing them due to her family’s huge fortune.

Pegula’s billionaire father Terry Pegula owns NFL franchise Buffalo Bills and has a net worth of £5.4bn. He also owns NHL team Buffalo Sabres, though his daughter has been praised for focusing on her tennis career as opposed to following in her dad’s footsteps with the family business.

Charleston is her seventh singles tournament of the year already, as the world No 3 proved her dedication to her craft by travelling eight hours in the car with her husband and three dogs to compete in South Carolina after winning the doubles competition at the Miami Open.

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