WATCH: Jessica Pegula reacts to a meme compilation on her after ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ incident against Iga Swiatek in Montreal
Jessica Pegula reacts to memes after Cotton Eye Joe debacle.
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Jessica Pegula (Credits : Tennis TV)
The recent winner of the Canadian Open, Jessica Pegula, was asked which meme best describes her reaction to the “Cotton Eye Joe” fiasco. In the semi-final of the Canadian Open, the American was facing World No. 1 Iga Swiatak. She was leading against the Polish star by a set and 4-2 in the second set tiebreak.
It was an intense and important moment of the match when suddenly Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex started blaring from the stadium PA system. Pegula had hit a perfect lob, which could have had her winning the game and making the scoreboard 5-2; however, the song caused a setback to the game as they had to replay that point. She then lost the next five points and the tiebreak. Fortunately, she collected herself and was successful in turning the match in her favor. She later went on to win against the top-seeded player. She secured her place in the finals and, a day later, became the champion of the Canadian Open.
In a conversation with the media at the Cincinnati Open, the American star was asked which meme represented her reaction to the Cotton Eye Joe debacle. The player was seen laughing out loud at the whole situation. She chose the sighing meme of Jennifer Coolidge, stating that she is a big fan of the actress. She was also shown a meme of the TV show Euphoria and one of the pop sensations, Rihanna.
The player chose the Rihana meme as her second choice. In the meme, you can hear Rihanna sing a rendition of her song “Unfaithful” with the lyrics, “I don’t wanna do this anymore.” The American tennis player found that meme the most hilarious and replayed it a couple of times in amusement.
She can now look back and laugh about the incident. The DJ even played it after her match point against the Russian Liudmilla Samsonova as a nod to her. The media has now even termed her “Cotton Eye Jess”. Speaking about it, she said, “For the rest of my life, I will be tied to that moment forever.” “I’ll never hear that song and not think about that. So I’m just glad that I overcame it and that it didn’t bring me down.”
Jessica Pegula takes a dig at the Canadian Open
The World No. 3 was crowned champion at the Canadian Open after beating Liudmilla Samsonova in the final. She admitted that she was not completely satisfied with her victory, as her opponent was not in the best shape. Samsonova had a very conflicting schedule because she had to play the semi-final and final on the same day. The Russian player had little to no rest between the matches.
At the post-match conference, Pegula was gracious enough to appreciate her resilience and hard work. The match could be said to be one-sided and ended in a total of 49 minutes.
Pegula later acknowledged, “She’s played a lot of matches in a short amount of time. Scheduling wasn’t in her favour. It sucks when you feel like you’re not on a fair playing ground. Especially someone like her who’s such a great player.”
In case you missed:
- Iga Swiatek joins Elena Rybakina’s call for player-centric scheduling amidst grueling tournament demands
- WATCH: Jessica Pegula’s incredible gesture to Liudmila Samsonova wins hearts after Elena Rybakina slams WTA for poor scheduling
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Ritvik Malhotra
(1085 Articles Published)