Jessica Pegula has perfect response as rival asks why she plays tennis despite being rich

Jessica Pegula had the perfect response after being called out over her “big rich” status among some tennis fans. The world No. 5 is the daughter of Terry Pegula, who owns the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, and has a net worth of £6.9billion (£9.3bn) according to Forbes. But that hasn’t stopped her from chasing her dreams. Pegula has been ranked as high as No. 3 in singles and No. 1 in doubles, she’s reached a Grand Slam final, and over the weekend, won her 10th career singles title in Dubai.

But some have questioned why the American still competes despite coming from a wealthy family. Pegula is well aware of the hilarious nickname her Chinese fans have for her, ‘Da Fu’, which literally translates to ‘rich woman’. And Chinese star Qinwen Zheng revealed that the fans had another big question for the newly-crowned Dubai champion.

Pegula co-hosts a podcast with Madison Keys, Jennifer Brady and Desirae Krawczyk, and before the WTA 1000 in Dubai got underway, she and Krawczyk filmed a quick video trying local snacks in Dubai. The video was crashed by Olympic champion Zheng, and hilarious chaos ensued.

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The world No. 24 first wanted to make sure she looked acceptable before getting on camera. And during the taste-test, Pegula’s ‘big rich’ nickname was brought up. “Yes I know, the ‘big rich’,” Zheng smiled, before sharing something else the Chinese fans had been wondering about Pegula’s family wealth.

“In China, we say, why [is such] a rich girl playing tennis, because tennis is such a hard sport, you know? Like, why you are not, I don’t know, in that high-class life?” she added. Pegula and Krawczyk put their heads in their hands before bursting out laughing.

The clip was only shared on social media this past weekend, ahead of the Dubai Championships final. And the world No. 5 addressed the hilarious video – and the questions about a potential “high-class life” – after lifting the trophy on Saturday.

“Did he drop it when I was playing? Did you see Queen? It’s unbelievable. It’s hilarious. It worked out. Des and I, after she left, we were like this is going to be so funny. It was perfect. It was totally not planned at all. Of all the people that kind of walk in and her whole, like, I need to look at myself real quick. Okay, I’m good. She was so funny,” Pegula laughed. “But yeah, that was fun. We did film that, like, several days before the tournament started, by the way. I wasn’t eating a bunch of chocolate last night. I hope people realise that.”

But the former world No. 3 also had a fitting response, explaining exactly why she plays tennis, despite suggestions that she could just fall back on money and live as a ‘big rich’ woman.

Pegula said: “I don’t know. It’s something I’ve loved to do since I was a kid, since before I had anything about my family or money or the teams or stuff like that. I wanted to be No. 1 in the world when I was, like, six years old. It’s been my dream for as long as I can remember to be No. 1, to be able to play on tour, to be able to win Slams. I mean, it’s pretty cool that I can look back and say that I’m putting myself in contention to do that, living out my dream. Yeah, it’s just honestly been a goal of mine since I was a little girl.”

And the American, who will celebrate her 32nd birthday on Tuesday, believes she’s close to achieving another childhood dream – lifting a Grand Slam trophy. “I mean, it’s the next step for me. I’ve come really close. At the same time, I don’t feel like I want it to define my career. I think if I had to stop right now, I had an amazing career. I definitely wouldn’t have any regrets,” she added.

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