Jessica Pegula drops 4-word reaction as heated USA vs Canada 4 Nations clash sees 3 fights in just 9 seconds

WTA star Jessica Pegula recently shared her reaction to USA and Canada's tension-filled encounter at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal. The hockey clash saw several players' frustrations boiling over, which led to a bizarre nine-second start that featured as many as three fights.

On Sunday, February 16, World No. 5 Jessica Pegula took notice of a highlights video from the controversial 4 Nations Face-Off matchup shared on X (formerly Twitter) b. The video included not just the goals from USA's 3-1 win, but also the fights. Reacting to the video, Pegula wrote:

"Lol I love hockey"

The first fight began only after two seconds, involving USA's Matthew Tkachuk and Canada's Brandon Hagel. Next, Tkachuk's brother Brady fought with Sam Bennett, with this fight starting a second after play restarted. Six seconds of relative peace followed, but it was broken again as USA's JT Miller came to blows with Canada's Colton Parayko.

While there's no clear explanation for why the players were so aggressive right from the get go, it's being speculated that the Canadian home crowd jeered the US national anthem pre-match, which may have escalated matters.

Jessica Pegula's connection with hockey stems from her billionaire father Terry Pegula's ownership of National Hockey League (NHL) franchise Buffalo Sabres. Several Sabres stars had wished Pegula ahead of her clash against Aryna Sabalenka in the 2024 US Open final.

Dawson Knox, Khalil Shakir and other Buffalo Sabres stars gave morale boost to Jessica Pegula before US Open 2024 final

Jessica Pegula celebrates winning a point against Aryna Sabalenka during the 2024 US Open women's singles final (Source: Getty)

Messages of 'good luck' poured in for Jessica Pegula from the Buffalo Sabres stars Dawson Knox, Khalil Shakir, Joe Andreessen, Josh Allen and more before the WTA star's 2024 US Open final matchup against Aryna Sabalenka.

Unfortunately, despite the Buffalo Sabres stars' encouraging messages, Pegula ultimately fell short, losing 5-7, 5-7 to the Belarusian.

The 2025 tennis season so far has been a mixed bag for Pegula. The WTA No. 5 made a great start to the year by reaching the final of the Adelaide International, but suffered a defeat at the hands of compatriot Madison Keys. Next, at the Australian Open, she was surprisingly ousted by the unseeded Olga Danilovic in the third round. Pegula later complained about the court conditions in Melbourne.

At the Qatar Open, the 30-year-old reached the quarterfinals but lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova. Pegula will next compete at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she is set to play Liudmila Samsonova in the first round.