Martina Navratilova has urged Jessica Pegula to take inspiration from Elina Svitolina in order to improve her attacking game at the WTA National Bank Canadian Open (Omnique Banque Nationale) in Montreal.

American No. 1 Pegula has had a successful season so far, making the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Moreover, she saw herself return to her highest-ever ranking of world No. 3 this week, a position she first achieved in October last year. This means that she has gone ahead of 2022 SW19 champion Elena Rybakina.

However, tennis legend Navratilova has pointed out one flaw in the 29-year-old's game, and has suggested that if Pegula were to fix it, she could be consistently winning matches against the 'elite women' in the sport today.

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Navratilova calls out Pegula's attack game

Speaking to the WTA Tour about the women's field at the Canadian Open, the 59-time Grand Slam champion expressed her faith in Pegula's ability to beat the top players, as long as she stops playing defensively.

"I still think she [Pegula] can beat these elite women if she can just find a little more belief in her attacking game," the 66-year-old said. 

In order to reinforce her point, Navratilova added that no-one wins Grand Slams by playing on the defense, and recommended that Pegula look to former world No. 3 Svitolina for inspiration on how to improve her attack.

"You’re not going to win a major strictly playing defense. She needs to get outside of her comfort zone the way Svitolina has been doing," she added.

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The Ukrainian player has had a strong run since her return from maternity leave earlier this year, reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon as well as the Roland Garros quarter-finals. However, Pegula defeated the 28-year-old in their recent match at the DC Open in Washington.

Navratilova believes it's a mental issue

Despite her comments, the former world No. 1 also praised Pegula, saying that she has actually improved a lot in recent years, but the mental side of her game is getting in the way of her reaching her full potential.

"She was up 4-1 in the third set against [Marketa] Vondrousova in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, and now she’s 0-6 in major quarters. The more that happens, the greater the scar tissue builds up.

"It becomes a mental thing. Jessie has improved so much -- if you saw her five years ago, you wouldn’t have pegged her as a Top 5 player," she said.

Jessie Pegula

@JPegula

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I fought my hardest today but just too good from Maria. Some good matches this week. I love playing in DC ❤️ thank you @mubadalacitidc

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