JESSICA PEGULA ON ARYNA SABALENKA RIVALRY: "I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE I HAD CHANCES"
Jessica Pegula opens up on her rivalry with Aryna Sabalenka, stating she enjoys their high-stakes matches and always finds opportunities to win.
The Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka rivalry has been building, and fans are ready for more great matches next season.
Sabalenka has won most of their matches this season, beating Pegula in three of their four meetings. Still, Pegula seems to enjoy playing against her and wants to play her just as often next year.
With Sabalenka leading 9-3 in their head-to-head record, Jessica has extra motivation to keep improving, but it’s still too early to predict anything.
On The Player's Box podcast, Jessica Pegula spoke about matches where she played well but lost. She knows that in many matches, she was in control and close to winning, but lost focus and didn't take advantage of her opportunities.
“I feel like I’ve had so many of them.
Honestly, a lot of my recent matches with Aryna have been really good matches, like the level was just super high, and you lose, but you feel like… You don’t feel that bad afterwards, because you’re like, “Wow, that was a really high-level match, like I had chances, whatever,” but you feel like you put your best self out there.
So I would say, just off of brief memory, honestly, most of my matches with Aryna over the last two years. I always come off the court feeling like that,” Jessica Pegula said.
Facing players like Sabalenka gives you a chance to show what you can do on the big stage.
Jessica also mentioned her match against Jasmine Paolini, saying it was fun the whole time. While dealing with strong emotions wasn't easy, Pegula said leaving the court in tears was hard, but the match was great and made her and the crowd feel good.
ARYNA SABALENKA VS KYRGIOS: WTA NO. 1 DEFENDS "BATTLE OF THE SEXES" EXHIBITION MATCH
Aryna Sabalenka hit back at critics, defending her upcoming exhibition match against Nick Kyrgios, stating the unique "Battle of the Sexes" event will grow women's tennis.
Aryna Sabalenka isn't buying the idea that her upcoming exhibition match with Nick Kyrgios will hurt women’s tennis.
The two are set to play on December 28th in Dubai, a match that's stirred up plenty of talk online.
This match is meant to recall the famous 1973 King-Riggs face-off, which drew a huge TV audience and was later called the Battle of the Sexes.
King's win over Riggs was a big step forward for women's tennis.
Since the match was announced, some have said it could take attention away from women's tennis. Sabalenka disagrees.
“I don’t think so,” the WTA world No. 1 told BBC Sport. I'm not risking anything. We're there to have a good time and play some great tennis. Whoever wins, wins.
“It's obvious men are generally stronger, but that's not the point. This event will only help raise the profile of women’s tennis.”
Sabalenka wrapped up 2025 with a US Open title and finished as runner-up at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
She ended the year as No. 1, way ahead of Iga Swiatek.
Kyrgios is currently ranked No. 672, having played only five matches this year because of a wrist injury.
To level the playing field a bit, Sabalenka's side of the court will be smaller.
Also, both players only get one serve per point in the best-of-three match, with a tiebreak deciding the final set if needed.
“It won’t be easy for Nick,” Sabalenka added. “I’ll be competing hard and showing that women are strong, powerful, and entertaining. He’s in a tough spot. I'm in a good one.”
Kyrgios hasn’t played a pro singles match since Miami and is still dealing with a wrist issue.
He had wrist surgery in September 2023.
He recently played in the Garden Cup exhibition against Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul, losing both matches.
“Tennis doesn’t have this kind of buzz often, so when it does, it’s special,” said Kyrgios.
“We are helping tennis grow,” Sabalenka said, responding to critics. It’s fun, it’s a challenge, and I think that’s what people want to see.”
MYSTERIOUS ABSENCE: WHY IS NO. 64 DANIELLE COLLINS SKIPPING THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN
American star Danielle Collins, ranked No. 64, is surprisingly absent from the 2026 Australian Open entry list after last year's fan clashes and infamous prize money comments.
Danielle Collins is expected to skip the 2026 Australian Open.
The outspoken American player, nicknamed ‘Danimal,’ had a run-in with Aussie fans at Melbourne Park last January. During her second-round win against local player Destanee Aiava, she told hecklers to shut up.
The 31-year-old also appeared to slap her backside and later joked that she'd spend her $290,000 prize money on a girls' trip to the Bahamas after reaching the third round.
During the match [against Aiava], I thought I might as well take that big fat paycheck, Collins said while being booed in her on-court interview. We love a five-star vacation, so a big part of that will go towards that. So thank you guys; thanks for coming out here and supporting us tonight. Thank you guys, love you.”
Collins seemed to embrace being the villain in her next match against Maddison Keys, but lost in straight sets to the player who eventually won the 2025 Australian Open women’s singles title. She was booed during that game and said fans were taking things too seriously.
The Australian Open entry list came out on Tuesday, and Collins wasn’t on it. The top 104-ranked WTA players automatically qualify for the main draw, and Collins is currently ranked No. 64.
Nine’s Wide World of Sport reports it’s not clear why Collins is skipping the event, and Tennis Australia is also unsure of the reason.
This announcement comes after Collins was eliminated in the first round of the US Open by world No. 39, Jaqueline Cristian. She also didn’t go far in the events leading up to the Grand Slam in Washington, Montreal, and Cincinnati.
However, Collins reached the third round at Wimbledon this year before losing to Iga Swiatek.
Her best result was at the Strasbourg International, where she beat Sofia Kenin, Emma Raducanu, and Anna Kalinskaya to reach the semi-finals before losing to Liudmila Samsonova.
Five Australians are on the entry list for the women’s singles: Maya Joint, Daria Kasatkina, Kimberley Birrell, Emerson Jones, and Ajla Tomljanovic.
Nick Kyrgios, who suggested he was planning an Australian Open comeback, apparently hasn’t been given a wildcard for the men’s singles. James Duckworth, Patrick Kypson (USA), and Yunchaokete Bu (China) all received wildcards. Kyrgios, who will be in the Australian Open's new One Point Slam, might still play in the doubles events.