"Making me nervous" - Jessica Pegula jokes with Coco Gauff over her squat shot, urges doubles partner to stop falling

Doubles partners, good friends, and America's top-2 tennis stars Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were in a fun mood after their respective third-round victories at the 2023 Australian Open on Friday. Reacting to Gauff hitting a unique squat shot during her match, Pegula joked that the teenager was making her nervous and urged her doubles partner to "stop falling."

During her match against fellow American Bernarda Pera, World No. 7 Gauff hit an Agnieszka Radwanska-esque squat shot falling to her knees. Moments after winning the match 6-3, 6-2, Gauff reacted to her win, admitting that she herself was left confused by how she played the squat shot and ended up winning the point.

Gauff joked about the same, further expressing her excitement at reaching the second week of the Australian Open.

"Idk what this is but I won the point, I took the 'get low and bend your knees' a little too seriously lol. But anyways we’re into the 2nd week of @australianopen," Coco Gauff wrote on Instagram.

Pegula had a funny response to the same, urging her friend and doubles partner to be more careful. Seeded second, Gauff and Pegula started their Australian Open doubles campaign with a win over Donna Vekic and Tereza Martincova on Thursday.

"Will you stop like falling all over the court, it’s making me nervous," Pegula expressed.

Gauff, however, was not done with the jokes.

"Lol. Just testing your heart rate," the 18-year-old wrote in response.

Meanwhile, Pegula herself had a very comfortable third-round outing against Marta Kostyuk, winning 6-0, 6-2. Both Pegula and Gauff will face former French Open champions Barbora Krejcikova and Jelena Ostapenko, respectively, in their fourth-round singles matches.

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Jessica Pegula thrilled to get back on the court with Coco Gauff with Australian Open title in mind

Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff at the 2023 Australian Open

Jessica Pegula is happy to resume doubles duty with good friend Coco Gauff, playing together for the first time since their forgetful WTA Finals campaign in early November. Pegula also said she was excited to play alongside Gauff again, particularly because they did not practice or meet each other during the pre-season.

The 28-year-old felt that she and Gauff were a bit "out of sync" at the beginning of their first-round match, but found their groove as the match progressed.

"It was definitely nice," Pegula expressed in a press conference. "I actually didn't really practice with her much at all I think in the off-season. We were kind of on different schedules. So I haven't really seen her that much. Then she was in Auckland.

"It was fun to get back out there. I definitely felt like - not rusty - but sometimes you're a little out of sync. I think we got it going there in the third, were able to pull out a pretty tough win."

Having navigated their way through a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-2 win against the pairing of Donna Vekic and Tereza Martincova, Pegula hopes she and Coco Gauff can ride the confidence and go on to win the title. They face Xinyu Wang and Moyuka Uchijima in Saturday's second round.

"We knew it was going to be a tough match. Hopefully we can kind of get through that one and have some confidence throughout the rest of the tournament," Pegula added.