After Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula Gets Asked the Donald Trump Question at the Australian Open

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula are into the third round of the Australian Open after beating their opponents in straight sets. However, hours after Gauff made headlines with her comments about the current state of the United States under President Donald Trump’s second term in office, Pegula was asked the same question.

Following the recent policy shifts in America and the complicated sociopolitical climate in the West, several unanswered questions have been sidelined. Since Trump won his bid to become president for the second time, there have been protests and counterprotests in America, which created a big divide between the Democrats and Republicans.

However, the current political climate has led to renewed scrutiny of issues of racial equity and women’s rights. On Wednesday (January 21), Gauff delivered an excellent performance to earn a straight-sets victory against Olga Danilovic, who had defeated tennis legend Venus Williams in the opening round.

During her press conference, she was asked about her opinion on the country’s situation, and Gauff responded with no hesitation. The American No. 1 addressed the intersection of sports and politics, stressing that racial equity, particularly in the black community, and women’s rights have become major topics in the country.

Gauff added that she hopes for peace in the future, which will bring together the great divide in the country. After Pegula claimed her second-round win on Thursday (January 22), she pointed out that her wish for her country is that everybody comes together, has good dialogue, and achieves the heights the Americans hope to attain:

I don’t like to dabble too much into politics just because it’s not the space that I really want to say that much on, but I just hope everybody can kind of at some point come together and work together for situations whether it’s political or non-political in our country. I just hope we can come together at some point with a good dialog where things can actually get accomplished and things that we want to see accomplished and it not be so divisive I guess.

This is not the first time Gauff has dabbled in round-the-clock politics in America while on tour. After winning last year’s French Open in Paris, she revealed that the 2024 presidential election, which led to Trump’s victory, was a “down period” in America.

Jessica Pegula beats doubles partner to reach the third round of the Australian Open

Jessica Pegula faced a daunting task when she took on her doubles partner, McCartney Kessler, at the Australian Open. Both players had crashed out of the doubles category just less than 24 hours after losing to Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani in the first round of the event.

They met in the second round of the singles category at Melbourne Park. Pegula defeated Kessler 6-0, 6-2 in just 58 minutes to seal her place in the third round. She made just seven unforced errors, hitting 18 winners, and won 73 percent of her first serve points. During the aforementioned press conference, she noted that miscommunication prevented her from partnering with Kessler sooner:

We’ve tried to hook up for doubles so many times. Of course, the time that we are actually ready to play, we also play each other in the next round in singles. We had a bunch of blunders trying to play together. One time I thought we signed in [for a tournament], but we hadn’t. In Brisbane, we signed in but didn’t get in [the draw].

Pegula will face unseeded Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva, who bundled out Paula Badosa in the second round in straight sets. Pegula is yet to win a Grand Slam in her career and will be aiming to finally win it and her first final on tour since the 2025 Wuhan Open.

Also Read: Novak Djokovic Demands Cheeky ‘Agreement’ With Carlos Alcaraz Over Suspicious New Serve

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