Jessica Pegula intends to take a step-by-step approach to her bid to win her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. 

The fifth seed stormed to a 6-2, 6-0, win over compatriot Ashlyn Krueger in the first round on what was an overcast day at The All England Club. Pegula was rarely troubled in the match as she dropped seven points behind serve and hit 17 winners past her rival. She now has a 4-1 winning record when it comes to first round matches played at the tournament.

Pegula’s latest victory comes during an encouraging grasscourt swing for the American, who was forced to skip the French Open earlier this year due to injury. In Berlin, she won her first WTA trophy on the grass by defeating Anna Kalinskaya in the final. However, she then suffered a first round defeat in Eastbourne to Emma Raducanu. 

“I think you have to put in your mind that you’re here to win matches,” Pegula said during her press conference.
“I’m not really one to be like, I’m going to win Wimbledon. Maybe some people are different and that’s what they like to do.
“I think it’s me, just belief in every single match, maybe not getting too ahead of myself. “

The women’s draw is starting to open up already which could pave the way for the trend of new champions in the women’s event to continue. The past seven editions have been won by seven different players. In the bottom half of this year’s draw, none of those players have previously reached the semi-final stage at Wimbledon. 

“It just goes to show you that anything can happen,” she said.
“There’s a lot of depth. I think a lot of girls get excited a little bit at that fact. You have a chance if you can play well here these two weeks. I think it makes us all a little bit more excited.”

Whilst there are plenty of positives for Pegula, the 30-year-old is refusing to look too far ahead. She has yet to progress beyond the last eight of a major despite her credentials. So far in her career, she has won five WTA titles and earned more than $13M in prize money. 

“It’s nice to be able to get through today, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to the next challenge. You just kind ofhave to take it day by day, especially in a two-week event.” Pegula concluded. 

England’s nail-biting victory at the Euros on Monday didn’t just delight their nation. It inspired one of the country’s top tennis players. 

Emma Raudcanu has paid tribute to Gareth Southgate’s side after they scraped through their knockout match against Slovakia to reach the quarter-finals. Jude Bellingham scored in the 95th minute to put England level before Harry Kane secured victory in extra time. However, the team’s performance has come under scrutiny throughout the tournament.

“For sure I sympathize with the players who are being told they need to play a lot better, need to play perfect. I think atthe end of the day it’s about getting over the line.” Raducanu told reporters on Monday at Wimbledon. 

The Brit started her campaign at The All England Club with a 7-6(0), 6-3, win over Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa, who came in as a late replacement for Ekaterina Alexanderova. Alexandrova withdrew from the match due to illness. It was a far from perfect performance from Raducanu who leaked a costly 30 unforced errors.

“Today I used it (England’s win) as motivation. It doesn’t need to be beautiful, it doesn’t need to be perfect.” She said.
“As long as you get through the opening rounds, you give yourself another chance to play better. For circumstances to align, as long as you’re still in the tournament, you keep giving yourself that chance.”

Raducanu is hoping for a strong run at SW19 following a promising grasscourt swing so far. In Nottingham, she reached the semi-finals in what was her deepest run at a WTA event since September 2022. Then in Eastbourne, she registered her first win over a top 10 player (Jessica Pegula) before losing to Daria Kasatkina, who went on to capture the title.

The recent success will inevitably raise public expectations for Raducanu to do well at her home Grand Slam. Fortunately, this year some of that pressure has been eased due to the Euros taking place at the same time as Wimbledon.

“I think football is just on a much bigger scale than tennis. They’re all under the microscope,” she said.
“I do feel for the scrutiny because I feel like tennis is just a much smaller scale. The whole nation is watching the football. The fans are very, very passionate.”

Raducanu will next play Belgium’s Elise Mertens. 

Naomi Osaka’s winning return to Wimbledon after five years has left her with mixed emotions. 

After being absent from the tournament since 2019 due to a variety of reasons ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to maternity leave, she was given a testing welcome-back match on Monday. Taking on France’s Diane Parry, Osaka battled to a roller-coaster 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, victory where she had to come back from a break down twice in the decider. 

“It felt really fun and really stressful at the same time,” Osaka said about her experience of playing on Court Two.
“It was just really fun. It felt like an arena. The match I think was a little up-and-down, but I think overall it was something that I can take a lot away from.”

The Japanese player is regarded as one of the most high-profile names in women’s tennis with a quartet of major titles to her name. However, she is yet to make her mark at Wimbledon. She has won just five matches at the tournament so far in her career which is the fewest among any player to have held the WTA No.1 ranking since the system was introduced in 1975. 

Although nobody can rule Osaka out due to her natural talent and powerful ball striking that has caused difficulty for many of her peers over the years.

“I think my serve wasn’t the greatest today. I feel like I definitely should have had a higher percentage,” she reflected on her latest performance.
“Ironically I felt like I returned pretty well. There were certain games where the score didn’t show that, but I felt like I was continuously putting pressure on her. That’s why she double-faulted on the match point.
“I’m glad about that because it’s something that I’ve been working on for a while. To have it, I guess, manifest during the grass season is a really good result for me.”

Osaka now has her second round match to prepare for but before that is another important occasion – her daughter’s first birthday.

“She had a really big celebration a week or so ago. That’s one of the things that I didn’t want to miss. That’s kind of why I didn’t play Eastbourne because I didn’t want to miss my daughter’s first birthday party.” Osaka explained.
“She’s going to have a cake and stuff here, but not like a crazy, big event.”