Jimmy Connors suggests someone from Cori Gauff and Jessica Pegula’s teams should have stepped up and advised the two American tennis stars not to play the WTA Finals if they were extremely fatigued and exhausted. Gauff, 18, and 28-year-old Pegula made their WTA Finals debut in Fort Worth, Texas.
Both Gauff and Pegula went 0-3 in the singles event and they also lost each of their three doubles matches at the season-ending tournament. In Texas, both Gauff and Pegula admitted to feeling tired but neither really tried or wanted to use that as an excuse.
Connors to Gauff, Pegula: If you are tired, don’t play
“If you’re gonna play, be ready to play and go and play. Don’t say you’re tired, because if you are tired, then don’t play. These kids have so many people around and they should know that’s what they pay them for, to do the best.
It’s like I told Andy when we had this chat. I said, ‘I never told you one thing that was gonna hurt you. Everything that I was telling you was for your benefit, and I wanted you to win just as much as you wanted to win.’
That’s the way all the people around either it’s Coco Gauff or Jessica Pegula or whoever has to look at it. Tennis is a 24×7, 365 days a year job and if you’re not willing to do that, take what you get,” Connors said on the Advantage Connors podcast, as quoted on Sportskeeda.
Even though Gauff and Pegula didn’t impress at the WTA Finals, it didn’t change the fact that their seasons were absolutely great. In 2022, Gauff made her first Grand Slam singles final at the French Open, debuted at the WTA Finals and she also achieved a career-high ranking of No 4.
On the other side, Pegula won her first WTA 1000 title in Guadalajara, debuted at the WTA Finals and rose to a career-high ranking of No 3 in the world.
