© Getty Images Sport – Matthew Stockman
World No 3 Jessica Pegula thinks the Challenger Tour is “harder” than the WTA Tour and the American tennis star provided a detailed explanation of why she feels that way. Pegula, 29, was competing on the Challenger Tour for a couple of years as she first broke into the top-100 just in 2019 January.
Since then, Pegula has become a regular participant in the WTA Tour events and has also turned into one of the best players in the women’s game. But before Pegula became a top-3 player and the highest-ranked American female tennis player, she was grinding on the Challenger Tour and for a really long time trying to make it to the main level.
Pegula on why the Challenger Tour is ‘harder’ than the WTA Tour
“I honestly think it’s harder on the Challenger Tour than when you actually get to the level here. Not that this still isn’t hard but to a certain extent when you’re on the Challenger Tour, everyone just wants to win so freaking bad, and they’re trying to get out of there.
Everything around you seems — I don’t know what it is. Plays into it. It’s, like, you’re on the back court on a bad court, the umpire sucks, like, you’re getting bad calls, there’s coaching….
