Tennis Star Jessica Pegula On Tennis, The Buffalo Bills And Her Love Of Dogs

This week on CNBC Sport the podcast, fresh off the U.S. Open semifinals, the top American women's tennis player these days is number three ranked Jessica Pagula. She shares her thoughts with me on those super late U.S. Open matches, her quest to win her first major, and if her post-career plans include taking over her parents' sports empire, they own the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabers. I can't say that wouldn't be exciting if I got to help out with the organization one day. It's all coming up next on CNBC Sport the podcast. I am pleased to be joined by the number three ranked tennis player in all of women's tennis, Jessica Pegula, and a friend, that that whose name I I don't know, but Jessica clue me in. Who's our friend there? Hi, this is this is Maddie. Maddie has been with me for a while. Actually, she's undefeated in finals. She's like three and zero, so she's my good luck charm. Oh wow! You should start bringing her to all the majors for sure. I mean that you can't let her go now. I know. So, so, so, why are you holding on to Maddie? Well, Maddie is helping me, I guess, talk about my partnership with the farmer's dog today. So, yeah, she's been loving their food, you know, raving about it. So she wanted to make sure she got into this interview. So, so tell us about Farmer's Dog. What is Farmer's Dog for those that don't know? Yeah, Farmer's Dog is human grade dog food that is super fresh. I switched my dogs over. I had a couple. My older dogs were on it, and then now I have three dogs, including Maddie, that are all eating it. But it's been a really fun organic partnership with them. Yeah, I feel like they just have great fresh dog food that the the dogs can thrive on and where they feel their best. So it's been a lot of fun to to start this new partnership, and we had a great showing at the U.S. Open, and it's been a lot of fun so far. So I'm excited to keep it going with them. So is is animal health a passion of yours? Yeah, I mean it's huge. I've had dogs my whole life. I've always felt such a strong connection to them, and so I think, especially me being an athlete, being able to take care of my body, I feel like is the same thing for my dogs. I always want them to live the best, healthiest, longest life possible, and so very, very important. I think kind of fits in again, like I said, with me being an athlete and trying to take care of my body the best I can. So it's been a it's been a cool partnership. I feel like it it kind of organically happened and has been a lot of fun so far, and they love it. So, so I want to ask you some tennis questions, Jessica. You know, your career is an interesting one because you kind of became a really top elite player later on into your career, and I and I'm curious, you know, in your late 20s, and really what you've carried on into today, what clicked? Like, what what changed that kind of allowed you to take that next step? I think it was a lot of maturity. You know, I don't think I necessarily knew everything that it took to kind of get to that level or sustain that level. So for me, it was going through a couple tough injuries. I think I learned a lot from that experience, and not just that I didn't work hard, but I just think working smarter. So I just became much better at taking care of my body. Being able to stay healthy was a was a big one. You know, if you're not able to kind of compete week in and week out, it's tough to build confidence. It's tough to build up ranking points and and learn through experiences. So I think, ironically, being hurt ultimately, I think I learned a lot from those few years where I was in my early 20s, and was able to kind of use that as motivation and inspiration and a learning experience that's been able to get me to where I am today. You're fresh off a semifinals placement at the U.S. Open, which is you know back-to-back semis, and the year before that you made the finals. So you're knocking at the door in that tournament. I have to ask you kind of the hot U.S. Open question going around now, which is the timing of these matches. What is your take on whether or not the the timing of the matches that are on Arthur Ashe needs to change to bring them earlier in the day? Yeah, that was a big topic this year. I I luckily wasn't a three a.m. finishing match, but I did have a few later ones, and I was a part of the day where I played before Ben and Carlos, where they finished at three or three a.m. or something like that, and unfortunately that whole day it was only four matches on that court, but they all pretty much went as long as they possibly could, and you know they have to clear out day session to night session tickets, which takes about an hour, which is what I waited for before I went. On court, so I mean, I think it was a little bit of an unfortunate kind of circumstance that day. But I think they can look at possibly maybe using Armstrong still in the quarterfinals to maybe split up some of the matches. I think that could maybe help. But yeah, it's it's tough because it's part of the U.S. Open's identity, and there still are a lot of people that stay, but at the same time, is it really the greatest for the athletes and the staff and everybody working to kind of be there that late? I'm not really sure, but it's tough as well when the men play three out of five sets. You ultimately, the time span can be between three and five hour matches, which is a big difference. So I'm not sure if they can maybe spread them out a little bit more. I think some of the other Grand Slams do that, and maybe they can just take the pressure off of that. But if not, and you're a tennis fan, you got to see a lot of really great tennis that one day. I mentioned that you've gotten close at the U.S. Open a number of times now. We've also reached a semifinal at the Australian. Still waiting to win that major, I'm curious if each time you get so close, does the pressure mount in your mind that like, oh, you know, I've gotten so close, like I got to get one here, or are you able to sort of keep that at bay and look at these tournaments as just sort of another tournament? I think that I've gotten much better at dealing with it. I I think the first few times I went deeper into the second week of a slam, more so like quarterfinals. I made a lot of quarterfinals before I was able to break through to the semis and then to the final a few years ago. I think from that experience, I realized that it's just another match, and I think sometimes you can kind of build it up in your mind a little bit that it seems so difficult, and then once you do it, you realize it's just another match that you have to win. So I think now, over the last few years, I've done well just because that mindset with me has kind of changed, and I know that I can still go deep and have another chance. But at the end of the day, I'm just trying to to kind of get better as a player and keep giving myself more of those opportunities. So I try to have a a little bit of a short term memory with it, and use it as a as another great building block. And hopefully, yeah, I can get my chance to get one one day. I know you were fairly recently named chair of this new panel or committee for the WTA, which takes a look at the schedule. What what are some of the things that you think need to change in the WTA, I think schedule has probably been the main topic and is the main point of having that. It's the Torah Architects Council and being able to kind of alleviate some of the pressure that we feel as players having to play so much of the year when we switch to two week events at a lot of the big 1000 events. You know, it went from Grand Slams being long to now it's long almost every single week, and so that can just really just it wears you down. I think mentally and physically. So being able to to somehow find a way to alleviate the pressure that some of these players feel with having to play so many tournaments, taking up the entire year, not really allowing a lot of time to rest or recover, is kind of the main priority of this entire council. So we're hoping that we can get some of the mandatory events down. And I think you know players are still allowed to play whatever they want to play, but they just don't feel that pressure that they have to with maybe they're dealing with you know an injury or not feeling well. I want to talk a little bit about kind of your upbringing because for those that don't know, your parents own the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabers. That's sort of a unique way of going through life. Now, granted, they bought the teams when you were in your late teens, so it wasn't as though you were a child then. But were were you a part of sort of the family decision making to buy those teams? I don't know if I was really a part of it. I think I we were kind of told it was possibly happening in both scenarios. My dad bought the Sabers first and then ended up buying the Bills later on, so I was aware of it, but wasn't quite sure. There was kind of a lot of puzzle pieces that had to fall into place for that to happen. And I just remember, like when we bought the Sabers, it was like the coolest thing in the world. So it's been a lot of fun. I think to be able to bond over that time as a family. You know, we came much closer because we kind of felt like we were in it all together. And it's such a unique experience, and it was something that my dad had dreamed about doing since he was a kid. So it was a it was a pretty cool experience all in all. And now I feel like I just have these two big fan bases kind of behind me now that I've I've done well in the tennis world. Do you feel like you get a unique window into what ownership of a team is like, or are you so busy with your tennis career that you don't really have time? A little bit of both. I think that I have been able to, for sure, have a unique experience and be a part of some of the stuff. But you know, obviously, it's a it's a full time job. What I'm doing and what they're doing, so I'm not in the ins and outs as. But I, I think I definitely get to be a part of something that is unique and different, and kind of get a different view of how they get to handle things and different events that happen throughout both leagues and the players as well. I think it's just it's interesting as well coming from someone that plays an individual sport and being part of more of those team sports, and I I feel like there are things that I've learned through tennis and things that I learned through you know obviously what my parents have taught me. So it's definitely a cool experience, and I've always loved sports even before my parents bought the teams. I always thought that I wanted to be in the sporting world when I was done with tennis and everything. So it's been really really cool. We have seen quite a few tim sales recently as valuations have soared. Do you hope that your parents hold on to the bills, and could they conceivably hand them to you, where you become the controlling owner one day, and the Sabers for that matter? Oh, yeah, that's a that's a loaded question. I mean, I think my dad, I'm sure, would love to keep it in the family. I think it's something that he has earned and would probably want to see that happen, but no idea what the future holds. I think we kind of learned that after what happened with my mom that it's a you never know what's going to happen. So I think that I don't know. It's a discussion that needs to be had, but there are a lot of people selling teams. I think, of course, I would I wouldn't want that to happen. I think it's been an amazing part of of our family and a way we've grown closer. So we'll see. But yeah, I can't say that wouldn't be exciting if I got to help out with the organization one day. You mentioned your mom. She went through a you know sort of a serious health incident. How was she doing, and how difficult was it to play tennis through that? Yeah, that was really tough. Yeah, she ended up having a heart issue where you know she went into cardiac arrest, and that was a lot to deal with. But I think for the most part, we're on the other end of it now, where you know the stressful part of all the unknowns are kind of over. And I think for about a year and a half to almost two years, there were just a lot of things that we weren't sure were going to happen, either health wise and just taking care of her wise. But now I think she's able to travel, she's able to experience things with us, and I think at the end of the day, that's the most important, and you know the part that we cherish the most-being able to spend time with her and her being able to enjoy things with us again has been super rewarding. But I think during that whole time, tennis was still kind of therapeutic for me, and I think really helped me honestly get away from all of it because it was so stressful when I would come home, but I was able to kind of use it as a way to escape when I was on the court, when I got to play tournaments, and I know that's you know what she would have wanted anyway. She wouldn't have wanted me to to be home worrying about her. She'd wanted me to be out there playing tournaments and and competing. So I think ultimately tennis really helped me get through that. I don't know if people fully realize that tennis players at your level are really almost like traveling small businesses. I'm curious. Can you describe sort of what makes up your team? Like, who's on your payroll? It is true. Tennis is a weird sport where we are basically like the CEO of our team, so I've learned that at least that's helped me kind of understand, you know, that I have to take responsibility and a little bit of ownership and and be responsible for who I have around me and and managing that, which I think has helped me actually throughout my career. But that's kind of how I think of it. But I have my, I have two coaches. I have two tennis coaches that alternate traveling times. You know, because they can't. They have full families. They can't travel all the time. I have a trainer. I have a physio. I have an agent. My husband, who isn't not not on payroll, but you know, a support system. And yeah, I mean, we are-we're kind of traveling around and kind of managing and controlling everyone that's that's helping us out week to week. So it really is, especially nowadays. I think you've seen teams get much bigger and traveling all the time. Have you been to the new stadium? I actually have not, which is crazy. I have not seen the new stadium. I'm not sure when I'll get to see it, but I hope so. I hope soon. It looked amazing though on TV, and I've heard great things. And I can't believe how fast it felt like it went up so fast. I remember when it was like they were digging across the street, a hole in the ground, and then now, next thing I know, it's a totally new stadium. So I think I'm going to be pretty surprised by the time I get up there, do do you have a relationship with Josh Allen at all? Um, a little bit. He actually just came on our podcast that we have, the Players Box podcast. He's really nice. He actually came on and surprised one of our our friends, Jenny, who hosts the podcast with us, and I think that just shows like in the midst. Before the season and all this stuff, he was like, "Don't worry at all. Like, I'll totally go on the podcast. I'll be on there. And he was a great sport about it. So I think I know him enough to know that what you see is what you get. So he's he's great. You know, I'm curious who whose idea was the podcast? How did that develop? It was four friends. So it was me, Madison Keys, Desiree Krabcheck, and Jennifer Brady, and we have just been close friends for a few years. And you know the term, whatever kind of who makes it out of the group chat, whatever makes it out of the group chat. Well, we had a talk about starting a podcast, and that eventually made it out of the group chat into reality. And so we just decided to wing it last year before the U.S. Open, and it's been a lot of fun. We filmed every single week, and it doesn't feel like work to us. It feels like friends just talking and chatting. And we've tried to just give some insight a little bit on life behind the scenes of a tennis player and things that aren't so scripted. Things that kind of just show that we're normal humans, like a lot of people. And it's been a lot of fun to be a part of that. We have a blast. You know, one of the things I think that people really enjoy about women's tennis is that I think a lot of players are very candid. I mean, this extends to men's tennis too. But you mentioned Madison Keys as as a friend of yours and someone who was on that podcast. She had some pretty raw comments at the end of the U.S. Open about having to make a change, you know, she lost. She was up five zero and and lost that match. What did you think when you heard those comments? Yeah, I actually texted her, and I we were, you know, it was obviously not right after the match, but when I did see them like a day later, I just texted and was like, honestly, was so refreshing to see someone be openly candid about how they were feeling, and you know she didn't divulge too much, but she was like, "No, like I've been feeling like this way for a few months, and it's so hard in tennis. And I felt like I could just relate to that because we're going, going, going all the time, and sometimes you feel like you need to make changes, or something needs to happen, or you need to reset, but we're always chasing the next week. And I think sometimes fans or people don't realize how mentally like draining that is all the time. So I actually said it was super nice to see that, and I think a lot of people would appreciate her just being super open and candid, and to the point that like, hey, yeah, I know that what happened happened, and it was horrible. Like she doesn't want that to happen. You know that's not the result she wanted, and that's what makes the sport so hard. Is that you know the the match before that she saved match points, and then this match she had match points and she lost. And I think it's just the the tough reality of our sport. And she was just very very open and honest about it, which I thought was actually really nice. Jessica, good luck, and thanks for joining us. Yeah, of course, thank you.