Jessica Pegula Shares Abusive Messages She Received From Angry Gamblers After French Open Exit

Jessica Pegula lost a three-setter to home favorite Lois Boisson in the French Open fourth round.

Jessica Pegula Shares Abusive Messages She Received From Angry Gamblers After French Open Exit

Jessica Pegula (Image via X/WTA)

Jessica Pegula‘s campaign at the Roland Garros ended on June 2. Frenchwoman Lois Boisson came from a set down to beat her in the fourth round.

Pegula was one of the three-seeded players, the wild card entrant defeated en route to reaching the semifinal. After moving past last year’s US Open finalist, the 22-year-old then knocked out Mirra Andreeva only to lose easily to World No.2 Coco Gauff, who now has set up a clash in the championship match against Aryna Sabalenka, scheduled on Saturday (June 7).

After her exit, the American took to Instagram to share “a thread on the insane people that bet on tennis.” Among other posts, she shared a post about the demise of her dog Tucker under which a user accused her of losing the match on purpose, and hoped that her “first born child will be a still birth.”

These bettors are insane and delusional and I don’t allow DMs and try to remember when to shut my comments off during tournament weeks but they always find a way to my timeline. This stuff has never really bothered me much but does any other sport deal with this to our level? I’d love to know because it seems to be predominately tennis?? It’s so disturbing.

Check out her post here:

Pegula is not the first to expose the bettors who cyberbully tennis players. According to reports, almost half of the abusive social media messages are from angry gamblers.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka has addressed the issue and said it’s the responsibility of the tennis bodies to take steps in “filtering, blocking, and reporting” abusive posts. Former player Caroline Garcia (who retired at this Roland Garros) said the hateful messages emotionally destroy the players.

Jessica Pegula advocates for one-week WTA 1000 tournaments

Many tennis players feel the WTA 1000 events that last for two weeks should be removed from the calendar. Jessica Pegula is of the same opinion. After her French Open exit, the American said this season so far has been tough for her because apart from her mediocre performances at the Madrid Open and Rome Open (lost in the third round in both the tournaments), she signed up for Strasbourg Open because the week after her exit in the two WTA 1000 events felt long.

Jessica Pegula (2)
Jessica Pegula (Image via X/CGTN Sports Scene)

I am not a fan of the two-week tournaments. It makes everything really long. Grand Slams are already really long and so now it’s two weeks Madrid, two weeks Rome, and then two weeks here. It’s really, really tough. That is the way that it is now. And, of course, it is always better when you are winning a lot of matches because the days and the weeks go by much faster.

Jessica Pegula said at the press conference

At present, there are 10 WTA 1000 tournaments in a calendar and all of them fall under the category of mandatory events. Skipping the events would result in players getting zero points. Five of these are two-week WTA 1000 tournaments.

Next on the tour is the grass swing and Pegula has pulled out of the Queen’s Club championship. She has one title on the grass (last year’s German Open). The 31-year-old has never gone beyond the quarterfinal of Wimbledon, reaching the last eight in 2023. Last year, she lost to Wang Xinyu in the grass-court Major.

Pegula has so far won two titles this season: the ATX Open and the Charleston Open. She has also reached two more finals- the Adelaide International, which she lost to reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys and the Miami Open where Aryna Sabalenka defeated her.

Also read: Novak Djokovic Cherishes ‘Big Occasion’ Against Jannik Sinner in the Roland Garros Semifinals