Jessica Pegula worked for four years with David Witt before parting ways recently, and she's now explained why the change happened.
Pegula has been a very consistent player for a very long time. She's worked her way to become one of the best players in the world, and it's been a long and tricky journey.
It didn't come quickly but with years of hard work and dedication. The brightest part of her career was masterminded by David Witt, who had been with her for the past four years.
Unfortunately, all great things come to an end, which includes this very fruitful partnership. Just recently, Pegula has parted ways with Witt, which caused quite a bit of a commotion on the Tour.
It simply came out of nowhere and surprised everybody. Speaking to the assembled media at the 2024 San Diego Open, Pegula explained why the decision came and the reason for it.
"I just felt like I needed something different. I’ve just turned 30 so I feel like I’m getting to that point where I am maybe more near to the ending of my career phase so I just kind of needed to make some tough decisions to try something different."
There wasn't anything spectacularly wrong with how things were going, but Pegula clearly felt dissatisfied with the status quo. She wanted to try something else, and she's doing that right now.
She's currently working with Mark Knowles and Mark Merklein, who she hopes will guide her to future success.
"I didn’t want to regret not doing this. I think it was just something that naturally happened."
She took a long time off after the Australian Open to recharge properly after that early exit. Missing the Middle Eastern stretch isn't something she did often in the past, but this seems to be a new era for her.