Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula in sync with tennis, not TikTok

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have been born a decade aside, which doesn’t matter a lot in terms of enjoying tennis collectively however positively creates a barrier when the topic is TikTok.

“We don’t really notice the age difference until certain conversations come up,” Gauff stated. “It’s definitely a generation divide.” Joked Pegula: “She keeps me young.”

The 28-year-old Pegula is No. 3 within the singles rankings, the 18-year-old Gauff is No. 4, and the 2 Americans are making their WTA Finals debuts in each singles and doubles this week.

No different doubles pairing additionally has participated within the singles competitors on the season-ending match for the most effective of the most effective in ladies’s tennis since sisters Serena and Venus Williams managed to try this in 2009 (Serena beat Venus within the singles remaining that yr).

Coco Gauff, of the United States, laughs throughout a press convention on the WTA Finals tennis match in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Ron Jenkins)

Pegula, who’s from New York and now primarily based in Florida, was set for a full day of labor because the occasion started on the non permanent indoor arduous court docket at Dickies Arena on Monday. She misplaced to Maria Sakkari 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) in round-robin play in singles, then was scheduled to affix Gauff, a Floridian, to tackle the Chinese duo of Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan in doubles at night time to shut out Day 1.

Gauff and Pegula briefly paired up in 2021, going 0-2, earlier than actually thriving in doubles in 2022, accumulating three titles and ending because the runners-up on the French Open in June. Gauff reached No. 1 within the doubles rankings in August and is at the moment No. 2, one spot forward of Pegula.

The consolation degree with one another on the court docket and “irl,” as the children say — “in real life” for the uninformed — is significantly better than when Gauff brings social media slang into the dialogue.

Particularly if the references come from TikTok, a video-sharing app.

“She’ll look at me and say, What?!’ I’m like, You’ve never seen that?’ She’s like, No,’” Gauff defined.

“Then,” she added, “it becomes awkward.” Until Gauff pulls out her cellphone to show what she’s speaking about, “and then it will make sense,” she stated.

Pegula, whose most up-to-date match was a victory over Sakkari within the remaining of the Guadalajara Open on Oct. 23, known as it “a reward and a confidence boost for me” to be within the fields open to solely eight singles gamers and eight doubles groups.

Gauff is the youngest American to qualify for the WTA Finals since 1994 and thinks the accomplishment “just shows my improvement.” “I busted onto the scene in a very big way, and a lot of people were having opinions on whether or not I would do well or not,” stated Gauff, who made her Grand Slam debut by reaching Wimbledon’s fourth spherical at age 15. “This just proves that all the work that I’ve put in is paying off. Obviously I want to go further.” They not too long ago grew to become the primary two U.S. ladies within the high 4 of the singles rankings on the similar time for the reason that Williams siblings in 2010.

“We learn from each other … and that’s always kind of pushing us to get better,” Pegula stated. “It seems like it, because our rankings just keep moving up together simultaneously.” They are conscious of differing in-match personas: Pegula is calmer, Gauff extra excitable.

And they consider every can profit from adopting a minimum of a touch of the opposite’s mindset.

“She has really good energy. A lot of first-pumping, jumping around, her athleticism and the youthfulness about her. She’s very giggly. She laughs a lot. She’s always kind of messing around,” Pegula stated. “I think just having that kind of energy, especially when we’re playing doubles, has kind of taught me to kind of do that more in my singles game, since I’m pretty laid back.” Ask for Gauff’s tackle Pegula, and among the many phrases that come up are severe, chill, humble, form.

There is one thing necessary to Gauff that’s lacking from her scouting report on Pegula, nonetheless.

“She’s not on TikTok at all. If you follow her on Instagram, she’s barely on there. I would say Twitter is her most-used platform, and it’s still not used a lot,” Gauff stated, chuckling. “So maybe I can get her on TikTok, eventually.” With a touch of figuring out resignation, Gauff added: “I doubt it.”