"Are you joking? Like, that wouldn’t happen" - Jessica Pegula slams tennis balls with 'no other sport' capable of doing the same thing

Jessica Pegula's run to the DC Open final has left her chuffed, but her views on the tennis balls have remained very negative as she laments the tournament organisers for the balls they regularly offer not being to the expected standard.

The American's brilliant 2026 campaign continues to go from strength to strength. Aside from a first round exit at Roland Garros, there are very little negatives to come out of it with her set to compete in a fourth final of 2026.

This is the second on home soil following the Charleston Open, with the biggest coming at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, winning a fourth WTA 1000 title. She would lose in the Berlin Ladies Open final to eventual Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, but as we creep closer to another WTA 1000 double header leading up to the US Open, Pegula is flexing her muscles once more.

Wins over Magdalena Frech, Anna Kalinskaya and Diana Shnaider puts the number one seed in the final in Washington for the second time. A second title at the DC Open is on the horizon with a tricky test in the form of Alexandra Eala her latest task.

You would expect the World No.3 to be enthralled and upbeat after reaching yet another WTA final, but this was almost the opposite on one specific topic. She vented her frustrations at the tennis balls, focusing on the quality and consistency not being at the level expected.

“We’ve talked a lot about these freaking tennis balls, till the cows come home, oh my gosh,” she said, "It’s just hard, because you learn a lot about it. Like, there’s different manufacturers. So, obviously, different countries, so different tournaments get the same ball, but it’s from a different place that makes them so it feels different."

The manufacture changes depending on the tournament competing in. For example, Dunlop balls are used at the Australian Open, Wilson at the French Open and the US Open, and Slazenger at Wimbledon. These different brands have slight differences that the players need to get used to.

“I think the surface of the court, and does it fit with the ball?" Pegula continued. "Like, sometimes the balls are okay, but you put it on a gritty court, and they get really chewed up. The weather: sometimes it’s really hot and humid, sometimes it’s cooler, so that dictates whether they fly or they don’t fly. Like, there are so many variables. And even day to day, how they change from it being, like, maybe cooler today, but hot the other day. And so it’s kind of like an impossible thing to solve.”

Pegula was surprised that this is still a discussion at the top of tennis, stating that other sports would not do this. “I think where you get frustrated is where you’re constantly changing, and I know at one point, the men were playing with, like, three different balls in three weeks. Like, that’s crazy. Like, you ask any other sport to kind of deal with that, and they’re like, Are you joking? Like, that wouldn’t happen. So it sounds silly, but it does make a big difference.”

She has not been the only one to share these thoughts. A number of tennis players have come forward with similar views from personal experiences. Daniil Medvedev had his say in the ABN AMRO Open earlier this year, Stefanos Tsitsipas had an argument with the umpire over the quality of the balls at the Mallorca Championships and seven-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz has also pleaded for events to stick with one brand amid adaption issues.

Altercations may be coming in the future. With players convinced that the worn balls have negative fatigue and injury affects, the ball change in matches could be sooner. It first comes after seven games, followed by every nine games.

This test would occur on the Challenger Tour, involving balls to be swapped out after every five games, making them fresher and less worn which would benefit the players. Whether this goes through in the future, time will tell but the players will certainly continue to voice their disapproval until something is done.