Tennis players are some of the healthiest athletes on the planet. If a player wants to play all year round, they have to be at the peak of their health. While they are at the prime of human fitness, playing too many matches can cause a backlash. Jessica Pegula has unfortunately fallen into such a position. The American player recently announced withdrawal from a few upcoming tournaments.
Pegula’s problems also extended to her double partner, Coco Gauff. Her exhaustion from 2023 caught up to her, and she had to retire from the first two tournaments.
While she played well throughout the year, the extensive schedule caught up to her in 2023. She withdrew from Adelaide International after winning two matches. She lost in round 2 of the Australian Open and withdrew from the doubles stint of the tournament. After the tournament, Pegula announced that she would be withdrawing from the Middle Eastern stint, the WTA 1000 events in Doha and Dubai.
She is stepping back from the tournament due to a neck injury, not usually seen in tennis players. Pegula joins Madison Keys, Petra Kvitova, and Belinda Bencic as high-profile players who will skip February’s Middle East tour. Keys is recovering from a shoulder injury that prompted her to miss the Australian Open, while Kvitova and Bencic are on maternity leave.
As per various sources, a tennis player focusing on singles plays an average of 76 matches in the year. These matches take place in the major tournaments, the Masters championships, the final tournaments, and several exhibition events.
Pegula went above and beyond and competed in 134 matches throughout the year. 76 singles matches, 48 doubles, and 10 mixed doubles bouts saw Pegula clashing against her opponents. Although the 30-year-old found herself exhausted, the WTA calendar is set to get more exhausting.
