TENNIS
Why aren’t Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula playing doubles together in the 2024 US Open?
Gauff and Pegula have won several titles together and represented Team USA at the 2024 Olympics, but won’t team up in New York.
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have formed a relatively successful doubles partnership over the years but the American duo won’t be teaming up together when their home 2024 US Open gets underway at Flushing Meadows on Monday (August 25).
How many doubles titles have Gauff and Pegula won together?
Since teaming up together for the first time in 2021, Gauff and Pegula have won five doubles titles together, including the Miami Masters in 2023. However, they surprisingly crashed out in the second round of the women’s doubles at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, which looks to have brought their partnership to an end. At least for now.
The pair were already forced to split up before the Olympics as a result of Pegula’s injury problems. But it didn’t work out too badly for Gauff, who won her first doubles Grand Slam title with new partner Katerina Siniakova of Czechia at the 2024 French Open.
The fit-again Pegula also found a new teammate for last week’s Canadian Open in the shape of Mexican Giuliana Olmos. The duo reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk, who won the tournament.
The reason Gauff and Pegula aren’t playing doubles in the US Open
Before the start of the US Open, Pegula claimed doubles wasn’t a priority for either of the two players at present, and is unlikely to be for the rest of 2024. That despite the opportunity to have the backing of a raucous home support in New York this week.
“I know Coco isn’t really 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. I think I’ll just play maybe whenever I kind of want to and maybe just focus on singles the rest of the year.”
Similarly, Gauff says doubles will make up a much smaller part of her schedule in the future: “The goal was to try to get as good as possible for the Olympics and then, yeah. Every week, week-in and week-out, I’m making the end of the week, if I’m playing singles and doubles usually I’m there at the semis at least in one event.
“It’s just tough to go week-in and week-out on tour, so that’s the reason why. But maybe next year I’ll play here and there. I won’t be playing doubles as consistently as I have been in the past.”
Gauff and Pegula’s singles draws in the 2024 US Open
Third seed Gauff faces France’s Varvara Gracheva in the first round of the women’s singles competition, with Pegula, seeded sixth, taking on fellow American Shelby Rogers.