“Such a selfless and generous girl”: Shuai Zhang shares Jessica Pegula’s selfless gesture following ATX Open Austin finals

Shuai Zhang revealed the special gesture that Jessica Pegula made for her fellow competitors after the ATX Open Austin finals. The WTA 250 event held its singles and doubles finals on Sunday. World No. 4 Pegula notably took the title, defeating her compatriot McCartney Kessler 7-5, 6-2 in an All-American final.

Earlier that same day, the doubles final was contested, with Zhang as one of the protagonists. The Chinese tennis player teamed up with McCartney Kessler to compete in the ATX Open Austin doubles draw. The pair reached the final but were defeated by the Chinese Yue Yuan and Russian Anna Blinkova.

It was the first time Zhang and Kessler had teamed up, as the Chinese player had been playing recently with Kristina Mladenovic before suffering an injury during the Middle East Swing.

Once both the singles and doubles finals concluded, the players had to travel to California – a journey of about 1,300 miles (2,000 km) from central southern USA to – almost - the East Coast. However, since the finals finished on Sunday, the players were left without any transportation options.

Once the singles and doubles finals were over, 2024 US Open runner-up Pegula offered to take all the players to Indian Wells on her private jet. This included her final opponent, McCartney Kessler, and the other three doubles finalists.

The historic Shuai Zhang was the one to share this information publicly, turning to social media to comment on the great gesture her colleague made. “The final day girls discuss how flight to IW, many different ways, someone leave from Austin / Houston/ Dallas, someone might need to transfer at LA in the middle night,” she posted. “Because tough to get flight after the doubles final at the meantime @jpegula offering everyone who playing at the Sunday final to join her private jet”

“You know she can leave away right after her singles final, but she is such a selfless and generous girl,” the former doubles world No. 1 added. “This message NOT to show took the jet, just wanted to prove appreciation and transferring the love.”