coco Gauff honestly tells Jessica Pegula your wait for a grand slam will continue after she rudely sack her coach of five years
Jessica Pegula shocks with coaching bombshell – ‘Never saw it coming’Jessica Pegula has made a change to her team as she has parted company with her coach David Witt, who says the decision came as “a total surprise”.
Witt started working with Pegula in 2019, but their partnership came to an end following the American’s shock second-round defeat to Clara Burel at the Australian Open.
“It was a total surprise to me. Never saw it coming,” Witt, who also worked with the great Venus Williams before he joined the Pegula set-up, told Tennis.com.
He added: “We’ve had a great friendship for five years, so it’s very tough. I really value my relationship with my player just as much as I love coaching.“It’s a tough business. I’ve been pretty lucky that I’ve only been with two players the last 15 years.”
Under Witt’s tutelage, Pegula became one of the most consistent players on the WTA Tour as she won her maiden title in August 2019 at the Washington Open – mere weeks after they joined forces – while in 2021 she broke first into the top 50 and later the top 20.In 2022, Pegula reached three Grand Slam singles semi-finals and made her top 10 debut in June before reaching a career-high No 3 in the WTA Rankings four months later. She also won her maiden WTA 1000 title at the Guadalajara Open in November and Witt was named WTA Coach of the Year.Last year she reached five finals – winning the WTA 1000 Canadian Open and the WTA 250 Korea Open – while she was a runner-up to Iga Swiatek at the season-ending WTA Finals to finish the year at No 5.
The 29-year-old started her season with a run to the semi-final of the Adelaide International before an early loss at the season-opening Grand Slam at Melbourne Park.Witt was asked about the highlights of working with Pegula and replied: “The hard work she put in and we put in, that was something to remember. Seeing your player succeed is the best feeling in the world.”
He continued: “You just never know how high a player can go. Me as a coach, I go into it thinking I’m going to try to get the best out the player that I’m working with. I think we’ve done that.
“She’s obviously knocking on the door [of winning a major]. Our goals were to win a Grand Slam. Obviously, that was cut short, didn’t get to accomplish that, but I think everything else has been awesome.”
