Jessica Pegula talks “Player’s Box” podcast launch with Madison Keys at US Open

NEW YORK—Look out, Nothing Major: something big is hitting the tennis podcast space thanks to another all-American quartet.

“The Player’s Box” podcast premiered this week during the 2025 US Open, co-host Jessica Pegula talking about the project after her second-round victory in Flushing Meadows on Wednesday.

“We've all been really close for a few years now,” Pegula said of co-hosts Madison Keys—who fell in the first round of the US Open to Renata Zarazua—Jennifer Brady, and Desirae Krawczyk. We've kind of always jokingly said we should start a podcast, but I feel everyone kind of says that and you just never really get around to doing it.

“Then we saw the guys start Nothing Major and we were kind of like, ‘Man, if they can do it, we can figure this out. Like, come on. Seriously,’” the No. 4 seed added with a laugh.

Nothing Major stars former ATP pros John Isner, Steve Johnson, Sam Querrey, and Jack Sock; since dropping their first episode last summer, the foursome has amassed over 70K followers on Instagram thanks to creative concepts like their “Hottie Bracket,” which pitted ATP stars against one another and fans voting on who was most attractive.

Getting support from the Nothing Major crew proved pivotal in encouraging Pegula and the gang to start their own show.

“They were like, ‘You should do it, you should do it,’ and we honestly threw it together,” Pegula explained after a straight-sets victory over Anna Blinkova. “We had ideas of trying to start it before the US Open or the week before, the first week, just because we get so much coverage here. We thought it would be a great time to launch in New York City. We threw it together within two or three weeks with the team.”

The Player’s Box dropped their first episode on Tuesday and have already gained just under 10,000 followers on the show’s official Instagram page.

“We've gotten really great feedback so far,” said Pegula. “It's just something fun we wanted to do as friends. We felt like we could give some really cool insight for people that are still playing on the tour. We've all had really four different journeys to the top of the game and gone through a lot of injuries and a lot of difficult moments.

“I think being friends also has really helped us, especially with all the traveling and, you know, just living this lifestyle that we live. So, it's actually been really fun, kind of therapeutic for us, and I guess we're just kind of sharing that with the rest of the world.”

Though Pegula herself is not an avid podcast consumer—“I haven't even listened to ours!” joked the American—the 2024 US Open finalist is intrigued by The Player Box’s potential to aid in telling not only her story but those of her co-hosts and other players on tour.

“The podcast I think is a fun way for us to kind of control, like, our narrative a little bit better,” mused Pegula, “and I think that's something where is cool in a sense, and we still want to engage with our fans.

“That's kind of the cool part, and the most fun part for us that we have already done in the few episodes are answering fans' questions and getting ideas of what they want to see from us. And being able to control that I think is a lot better feeling for us than maybe the opposite…where we don't really have much of a choice about what's being shown or what's going on or what we have to do through media.”

The Player’s Box official feed notes new episodes will drop weekly.