Jessica Pegula has found herself at the centre of a rather unwanted controversy over the past day, with footage emerging of her appearing to badmouth Mirra Andreeva.
In what she likely deemed to be a comfortable and safe space, whilst practising at Indian Wells ahead of the WTA Finals next week, she stood at the back of the court alongside her coach.
There, she recounted a recent interaction she had shared with Mirra Andreeva and her coach, Conchita Martinez.
Clearly, it was not a positive experience.
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Jessica Pegula did not hold back in her assessment, rightly or wrongly, but she will have had no knowledge that her entire conversation was being recorded live and streamed to thousands.
It has since been clipped up and shared all over social media.
The WTA’s response has been rather damning.
What did Jessica Pegula say about Mirra Andreeva?
Despite the occasional lawnmower noise drowning out her words, almost everything Pegula said about Andreeva was captured on camera.
She began by discussing Martinez, claiming that she is ‘nice’ but admitted she had ‘lost a little respect for her’ given how she has handled the 19-year-old’s behaviour at times.
Moving on to that, Pegula branded Andreeva a ‘diva’ who needs to be ‘put in her place’, before continuing on Martinez: “If I was a coach and my girl, you just played four great games, and you’re up four-zero, and you’re mad at me, hitting balls at me, I would be like, first of all, [that’s] disrespectful to the other person. You’re four-zero, shut the f— … ”
“Conchita, like pokes her and like eggs on her behaviour.”
The last of her claim actually roped Coco Gauff into the equation, as Pegula argued that if Andreeva shared her compatriot’s mentality, she would be ‘better than Coco’, praising Andreeva’s serve and movement.
In response to the emergence and widespread circulation of this private conversation, the WTA has removed all of their livestreams of the WTA Finals practice sessions from its YouTube channel.
Pegula has never faced Andreeva in a competitive match before, but they could face each other this coming week at Indian Wells despite being drawn in different groups.
Andreeva has been criticised for her behaviour in the past, but she does seem to have made great strides in this department throughout 2026.
