Jessica Pegula reveals her childhood goal of becoming World No. 1 and more following a 3R win at the Australian Open

Following her third-round win at the 2023 Australian Open, American tennis sensation Jessica Pegula opened up about her childhood goals of becoming World No. 1 and more.

Pegula, the third seed, defeated Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 6-0, 6-2 on Friday, 16 January, to advance to the last 16 of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park. The American is yet to drop a set in the tournament, having previously defeated Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 6-0, 6-1 and Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 7-6(5).

Jessica Pegula discussed her childhood goals of becoming World No. 1, winning Grand Slam titles and being a professional tennis player in a press conference following the win.

"I mean, my goal always, even when I was seven or eight years old, was to be No. 1 in the world, to try to win Grand Slam titles, be a professional tennis player. That was always my goal very young," Pegula said.

She noted that as a teenager, she had no idea what it took to attain her goals, however, she gradually learned through injuries and experience.

"I don't think I quite grasped, like, what it took maybe when I was a teenager. I think then, I don't know, you don't really know what it takes, I guess. Then obviously through the course of injuries and stuff like that, I felt like I learned a lot about myself, what I had to do to kind of reach the top of the game," Pegula said.

---

"It's tough cause when I was younger, it came off as kind of a bad attitude" - Jessica Pegula on being a perfectionist

Jessica Pegula in action at the 2023 Australian Open - Day 5.

When asked how she manages to be a perfectionist in a sport where players can't be perfect, Jessica Pegula replied that she was a perfectionist from childhood but it came out as a "bad attitude" at times because she would get "negative" and "down" on herself.

"It's tough 'cause definitely when I was younger, it came off as kind of a bad attitude. I'd get really negative or down on myself. It's tough," Pegula said.

She quickly added, though, that she gradually began using it as a strength and that it worked well for her.

"But I also think you have to use it as a strength, somewhat. I definitely started using that as a strength a lot with a lot of my off-court stuff, a lot of my rehabs I had to go through, a lot of my workouts, my warm-ups and stuff like that," Pegula said.