No "clear answer" for Jessica Pegula after Wimbledon quarterfinal heartbreak

As can happen in a three-set match, Marketa Vondrousova’s 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 quarterfinal win over Jessica Pegula was a three-act play, filled with drama, emotion and the brutal kind of zero-sum ending that can make tennis both rewarding and agonizing. For the victor, a transcendent triumph, a testimony to love, grit and guile. For the vanquished, tennis tragedy, anguish compounded by memory and uncertainty.

Call Act One, “The Triumph of Tactics,” the lefthanded Vondrousova flummoxing Pegula with her eclectic range of speeds and spins. “She's just tricky,” said Pegula. “She doesn't give you a lot of rhythm. Obviously the lefty serve. I thought she was serving well. Seemed like a high percentage of first serves. I think she was getting more free points than I was.”

Act Two: “A Shift in Space.” Following that first-set loss, Pegula won 10 of 13 games. Pegula’s altered court positioning and volley skills shifted momentum in her direction so emphatically that well into the third set it appeared this might only be a two-act tale.

Act Three marked the coda: “It Happened Indoors.” With Pegula up 3-1 in the third set, rain and the subsequent closing of the roof delayed play for approximately 20 minutes. Down 1-4, 30-40, Vondrousova rallied and went on to win five straight games. Though there’d been many physically and mentally taxing rallies during this one-hour and 55-minute match, the final shot was easy, a forehand volley hit into the open court.

Pegula is now 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, a statistic akin to the baseball joke about the pitcher who lost 20 games in a season: It’s a horrible thing to happen, but you’ve got to be pretty darn good to get there.

“I keep putting myself in good positions,” said Pegula, “but I guess it's not enough. I mean, I guess I was closer today.”

What’s made Vondrousova’s current great fortnight particularly surprising was that coming into this year, her Wimbledon singles record was just 1-4.

“Yeah, I mean, these two weeks are incredible,” Vondrousova said. “I just came here and I just said to myself, Just stay open-minded, just try to play your game and everything.”

Vondrousova has now advanced to semis of a major for the second time in her career. She previously reached the finals at Roland Garros in 2019. But since that run, Vondrousova has struggled with deeply troubling left wrist injuries. In 2019 and 2022, she had surgery to treat them, each time having to take six months away from competition.

Amid her many recoveries and exiles, Vondrousova has continued to earn wins that prove she possesses enough skills to occupy a higher place than her current ranking of No. 42. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she beat Naomi Osaka and Elena Svitolina—whom she will face in the semis—enroute to a silver medal. Vondrousova’s notable victories this year include two apiece versus top tenner Ons Jabeur and 2-19 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.

As she waited for the match versus Pegula to resume, Vondrousova spoke on the phone with her husband of nearly a year, Stephan Simek, home back in Prague. “He just said, Try to fight,” she said. “You are playing good. You are playing great match.”

Meaningful as it had been to have made it to the finals of Roland Garros and the Olympics, Vondrousova is well aware that nothing compares to generating a strong result at the All England Club.

“Yeah, I mean, everybody knows Wimbledon,” she said. “I think it's a different tournament. I feel like people in tennis, they know Grand Slams, but people outside tennis, they know Wimbledon. It's the biggest tournament. It's the biggest center court and everything. It’s so famous.”

Soon after the Vondrousova loss, Pegula headed to No. 3 Court to join her partner Coco Gauff for a third-round doubles match versus Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva. That one too ended in defeat, Pegula-Gauff losing 6-3, 6-3. Describing how she was able to cope with a doubles match following a singles loss, Pegula said, “Usually I'm pretty good at it. We just got killed today. That team played really well. It was a really tough match. Windy conditions. But, yeah, it's always tough mentally to get yourself up for the next match, especially when it's only a couple hours later, especially a match like that. That was very heartbreaking.”

As Pegula reflected on what’s as bad a day as a tennis player could ever dream of, it was hard not to empathize with her. This was by far the closest she had come to winning a Slam quarterfinal singles match. When asked if there was one thing missing from her game, Pegula said, “I have no idea. I don't know. I was one game away today almost. I don't really know what the answer is.”

Is there really a specific absent shot, tactic, or clearly identifiable factor that has left Pegula winless in six major quarterfinals? No one but the player can truly identify that answer—or even determine if it’s the right question. Did the cumulative scar tissue of prior quarterfinal losses haunt Pegula today? Or, is it best to view each of these past defeats as its own specific case study rather than draw a monolithic conclusion?

Or, might a more positive approach be for Pegula to take pride in consistently advancing so far, and continue on the path of improvement that has taken her up the ranks? After all, just over 18 months ago, Pegula finished 2021 ranked 18th in the world.

“Yeah, I mean, I'll just keep working,” she said. “There's not like a clear answer for everything, right, to prove that's going to make me say, Yes, for sure if I do this, I'm going to win a Grand Slam, make semis, make finals, whatever it is. There's nothing like that. I just have to keep telling myself to put myself in good positions, keep getting better and working on things.”

I feel like people in tennis, they know Grand Slams, but people outside tennis, they know Wimbledon. It's the biggest tournament. Marketa Vondrousova

Fittingly, Vondrousova’s first Wimbledon memory came when she was 12 years old and watched her fellow Czech lefty, Petra Kvitova, win the first of two Wimbledons in 2011. Then there are other lefty compatriots who’ve made their mark on the sport, from five-time Grand Slam doubles winner Lucie Safarova to Martina Navratilova and her record-tying 20 Wimbledon titles, including an unsurpassed nine in singles.

Now, having come back from a potentially plot-ending moment, Vondrousova stands two victories away from generating yet more applause on tennis’ grandest stage.