“One of the coolest things I’ve ever done” – Jessica Pegula’s 15-year-old hitting partner on training with American at Charleston Open

Addison Roach, a fifteen-year-old high-school freshman from Mt. Pleasant, a large suburban town in South Carolina’s Charleston County, has shared his experience of hitting with Jessica Pegula at the ongoing Credit One Charleston Open.

Despite receiving a first-round bye at the WTA 500 tournament, Pegula, the top seed at the Credit One Charleston Open, had a strong start in the second round. The 30-year-old fought back from being a set down to defeat Amanda Anisimova, and is now preparing to compete against Magda Linette in the Round of 16.

In a recent interview, Roach discussed his experience as Pegula’s hitting partner. The 15-year-old described the overall experience with Jessica Pegula as ‘cool’, but also acknowledged feeling nervous when hitting with the WTA World No. 5 in front of a loud crowd.

“It’s really cool. It’s probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Lot of nerves walking out on to that stadium because Ons was coming off and everybody was cheering super loud. I immediately started sweating,”Roach said in an interview with ABC News 4 (0:56).

“The Challenge of Fostering Growth in Tennis Amid Individual Interests”- Jessica Pegula

Jessica Pegula during a press conference at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open

Amid ongoing speculation about a potential merger between the ATP and WTA, Pegula shared her thoughts on the matter in a recent interview. The 30-year-old expressed her belief that a merger has the potential to enhance and elevate tennis as a sport. Additionally, the American highlighted some of the limitations of the current system.

“It seems like everyone is pretty open to it. I feel like I would be open to it. I feel like it would make sense that it would be bigger and maybe better. It’s so hard with tennis because everything is so fractionalized and everything’s its own: There are the Grand Slams, and the ATP, and the WTA, and the ITFs, and every tournament is kind of run individually. So, it makes it really hard to grow the sport when everyone is in their own self-interest,”Pegula told Front Office Sports.

Jessica Pegula, the WTA World No. 5, also discussed the potential impact of increased investments from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) on the sport of tennis. She expressed hope that the PIF would handle its tennis investments more effectively than it has in the past with its investments in golf.

“After seeing what happened with LIV and that kind of didn’t go well, it seems like they (PIF) want to do it in a better way because obviously they’re doing it to help sports and stuff, but they don’t want to look bad as well,”Pegula added.