Jessica Pegula gets real about split with Coco Gauff

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula won five doubles titles in 2022 and 2023 combined. They reached No. 1 in the WTA doubles rankings. They were a force that had to be reckoned with no matter which tournament they played. Plus, they got along swimmingly.

The two did play the Olympics together, but they failed to medal. Ironically, Gauff has won a Grand Slam doubles title, but she did so at the 2024 French Open when she played with Kateřina Siniaková. The move was a smart one for the American because Siniaková had won seven previous major titles in doubles.

As opposed to Pegula, who is a fine singles player but certainly not one of the top four players and never has been, Gauff did not need to lift her partner to higher success. With Siniaková, it was Gauff who was being lifted.

Jessica Pegula discusses split with doubles partner Coco Gauff

Gauff made no secret that she wanted to play fewer doubles matches moving forward. The 20-year-old player wants to focus more on her singles career where she currently ranks No. 2. She has no real chance to catch No. 1 Iga Swiatek soon, but both the American and the Pole have years left to play and Gauff could eventually become No. 1. That is her hope anyway.

Though she seemingly will have a long-term split with Pegula, Gauff has not ruled out the two playing together at some point. Pegula is handling everything in stride and continuing to play doubles. She recently teamed with Giuliana Olmos at the Canadian Open and while the pair did not win the title, they still were more successful than they might have expected.

As far as Pegula's relationship with Gauff, the two remain friends and not playing doubles together was simply something both players wanted to do. Even Pegula does not plan to play doubles nearly as much as she has.

After losing in the Canadian Open, Pegula told the press, "For me, I'm not sure. I know Coco doesn't really, isn't interested in playing, or at least I'm not, we're not thinking of playing, so I probably will take it easy on the doubles the rest of the year, so, yeah, we'll see. I think I'll just play maybe whenever I kind of want to, and maybe just focus on singles the rest of the year."

Gauff likely has a much longer singles career ahead of her than does Pegula. The latter is 30 years old. She could play for several more years, though playing fewer doubles matches will probably extend her singles career.

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