Annoyed but undeterred, Pegula’s short-term memory will drive her forward

NEW YORK — If there’s one thing about Jessica Pegula, it’s that she doesn’t get too high and she doesn’t get too low. That even-keeled temperament is what fuels her frequent ability to not only flummox the best in the world but to also bounce back quickly from disappointment.

She is human. Less than an hour after losing 7-5, 7-5 to Aryna Sabalenka in a high-quality, competitive US Open final, the 30-year-old Pegula was still replaying points in her head.

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“I’m just annoyed I lost right now,” Pegula told reporters.

“Everyone is like, ‘Congrats, amazing tournament.’ I’m like, ‘Eh, whatever,'” she said, laughing.

Pegula fought back in both sets to keep the result in the balance. She broke Sabalenka when she served for the opening set at 5-4 and came back from 3-0 down in the second set. Pegula served to take the match to a third set at 5-4, but Sabalenka steeled herself to win the last three games of the match.

Already the oldest American to make a first Grand Slam final, Pegula was trying to become the first woman since Maria Sharapova in 2006 to topple the World No.1 and No.2 en route to the US Open title.

Pegula’s win over No.1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals ended her 0-6 drought in Slam quarterfinals. Then she came back from 6-1, 2-0 in the semifinals to upend Karolina Muchova and make her first major final.

“I think maybe once I decompress a little bit, I’m sure I will be a little bit more appreciative and see all of that,” Pegula said.

A run to her first Grand Slam felt a long way off three months ago, when she made her competitive return after missing the European clay season. As a player who has historically flourished at the Hologic WTA Tour’s WTA 1000s, Pegula was crushed and, in her words, a little “freaked out” after injuries forced her to miss four of the season’s first six.

But after starting the hard-court summer at No.20 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals, Pegula will leave New York at No.5 on the leaderboard, firmly in contention to qualify for the season-ending championship where she finished runner-up last year. She will return to her career-high ranking at No.3 on the rankings as well. She did it by winning 15 of her last 17 matches to become the first player since Serena Williams to string together finals in Canada, Cincinnati and the US Open. Both her losses came to Sabalenka, who has now won 12 straight matches.

“Looking back, I’ve lost again to a really good player,” Pegula said. “I lost to girls that pretty much won the tournament every time. I know my level was right there. I think maybe I handled the moment a little bit better this year with just having maybe a different perspective of I had a rough start to the year and I didn’t really expect to be doing this well in the hard court swing and I was able to kind of flip that script.”

One fact that Pegula can take great comfort in is she has not played outside of herself to reach this career-best result. Pegula was asked throughout the fortnight whether she was playing her best tennis in New York, and each time she demurred.

“My movement and my serve have gotten a little bit better,” she said. “So I think there are certain parts that maybe are a little bit more consistent than they used to be. I’m sure there’s other days where maybe I’ve served better. But I think as far as a baseline, it’s not as much up and down throughout the weeks and through matches. I would say the same for my movement.

“So I think those things have improved a little bit. So I don’t know if I would say I’m playing better. The ball — am I seeing it like a watermelon every single day? Not quite. But I think with those other things, maybe that’s why it may seem like I’m playing my best tennis.”

Pegula is still entered in the Korea Open — which begins in just over a week — where she is the defending champion. Then begins a stretch of back-to-back WTA 1000s at the China Open and Wuhan Open, which could decide the final field in Riyadh.

“I think for sure I will take a lot of confidence from this in maybe like an hour or two,” Pegula said, “because like I said, I’m kind of annoyed. Not even annoyed about losing the tournament. I think it’s more I just wanted to win the match. Now there are things that are just in my head that I feel I should have done better and stuff like that.”