Jessica Pegula is one of the finest tennis players in the world and is the daughter of Terry Pegula, who is the billionaire owner of both the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres
Tennis can be as nerve-wracking for the parents as it is for the players themselves, and this seems to be particularly true for Jessica Pegula’s billionaire father, Terry. In addition to being the parent of the world No. 4, he is the man behind NFL giants the Buffalo Bills and the NHL franchise Buffalo Sabres.
With an estimated fortune of about £5.63billion, the businessman has admitted he usually avoids watching his daughter’s matches because he “gets too nervous.”
Yet, at last year’s US Open, the 74-year-old abandoned that tradition to witness her 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 comeback victory over Karolina Muchova.
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His rare presence courtside became a major talking point given his reluctance to watch Jessica – often dubbed the world’s richest tennis player – in action.
During Pegula’s clash with Muchova in the semi-finals, WGRZ sports director Jon Scott highlighted Terry’s well-known anxiety when following Jessie live.
He wrote on X: “Terry Pegula shown watching daughter Jessie in US Open semi-final. He’s said in the past he gets too nervous to watch her in person.”
Despite steering clear of many of her contests, Terry never doubted her potential to rise among the elite. Scott also posted: “I had a conversation many years ago with Terry Pegula about Jessie’s tennis career.
“At that point injuries had really slowed her. Terry adamantly told me his daughter could beat anyone in the world when healthy. She’s headed to 1st grand slam final Saturday.”
Pegula eventually met Aryna Sabalenka in the New York final, where she narrowly fell short. Despite pushing the top seed in both sets, Sabalenka edged her out 7-5, 7-5, leaving Pegula heartbroken.
As she returns to Flushing Meadows this summer, Pegula will be eager to go one step further. Before starting her singles run, however, she will first join forces with British No. 1 Jack Draper in the mixed doubles competition.
The redesigned tournament, which offers a winners’ prize of £740,000, promises to be a lively warm-up ahead of the Slam commencing on 24 August.
Pegula had originally planned to partner fellow American Tommy Paul, while Draper was due to team up with Paula Badosa.
Both Paul and Badosa withdrew, creating the unexpected pairing of Draper and Pegula. Their opener will be no easy task as they are set to play against Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu.
Raducanu and Alcaraz received wildcards for the draw, along with Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic, Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton, and Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka.