Would No.5 Jessica Pegula says her decision to split with her long-term coach ‘naturally happened’ and she has now enlisted the help of two former doubles specialists.
Earlier this season the American split from David Witt after spending more than four years working alongside him. During their time together, Pegula won two WTA 1000 events, reached the quarter-final of a Grand Slam on six occasions and peaked at a ranking high of No.3. The decision was publicly announced shortly after she lost in the second round of the Australian Open in January.
Speaking about Witt’s departure for the first time, Pegula explained her reason for doing so was due to where she is currently at in her career. Adding that she didn’t want to regret not making changes to her team after retiring from the sport.
“I just felt like I needed something different,” she told reporters at the San Diego Open.
“I’ve just turned 30 so I feel like I’m getting to that point where I am maybe more near to the ending of my career phase so I just kind of needed to make some tough decisions to try something different.’
“I didn’t want to regret not doing this. I think it was just something that naturally happened.”
Pegula has now brought two new coaches to her team but neither of them can travel full-time with her. Mark Knowles is a three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and former world No.1 who won a total of 55 ATP titles during his career. He has previously worked with Milos Raonic, Jack Sock and Mardy Fish.
The other new face in the team is Mark Merklein who is a former top 40 doubles partner that played alongside Knowles at the 2000 Olympic Games.
“Right now I’m working in a combination with Mark Merklein and Mark Knowles. Both of them can’t travel full time so I am kind of in the process of trying to figure that out. But one is based in Boca which is really helpful as that is where I live. It’s been nice to have that set up.” Pegula explained.
“Mark Knowles is in Dallas so I have just spent a week there. It has been nice. I like having a collaborative setup where I feel like I can talk to multiple people and have different feedback.”
Pegula is the top seed at the San Diego Open. She will play her opening match against Germany’s Jule Niemeier.
