"People usually that haven't played the sport, sitting and watching it's very easy to say": Pegula shuts down 'misconception' of choking in sport

Jessica Pegula started off her Australian Open campaign in superb fashion breezing past Jaqueline Cristian 6-0, 6-1 but one of the questions she was asked in her press conference surrounding the notion of choking in sports.

Pegula was quick to show her dismay for this narrative saying that it is only ever given by people who have not played at the highest level and it is more of a momentum shift.

"Choking? It's very harsh. It's a harsh word. I think everyone kind of does to some extent. I think it's just because you get nervous. I think there is a little bit of a misconception, where I think people usually that haven't played the sport, sitting and watching it's very easy to say, Oh, they're choking, they're choking," Pegula said.

"When really I think it's more of a momentum shift and maybe more nerves and just how you're kind of handling those nerves."

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"Some days there's no rhyme or reason. Some days you can feel like you're a little tense and for some reason you can feel like maybe the momentum is shifting in a match and you're just putting a lot of pressure on yourself to do the right thing," she added. "I think maybe instead of thinking clearly you're more panicking a little bit instead of trying to think of the big picture."

"To me it's nerves, I think. It's just nerves. It's just maybe "choking" leans more to you're letting your nerves kind of get the best of you more than you're playing. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's people I think that don't play sports kind of just assume everyone is always choking with a lead."

Onto her first match and for Pegula, she was really pleased too that she was first on court and that she would've hated to wait until Day Two to open her campaign.

"I was really happy I was first on today. I think definitely waiting around at the site for that first round I'm like, Let's just get it over with. If I'm going to be out first round, I would rather know first match than not. I would hate to have to wait last day Tuesday to kind of get through that.

"I think for me it's just like the waiting around, the buildup. I'm usually kind of freaking out in practice a little bit. Everything starts to bother me a little bit more. The strings start to bother me. Like certain courts I start getting very, I think, critical of all these different things going on," Pegula said.

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