NFL star Larry Fitzgerald named Jessica Pegula as the player he loves to watch on-court. Fitzgerald stated in a recent interview that he is a great tennis enthusiast and that he follows tennis events throughout the year.
Fitzgerald is a prominent name in the NFL and earned his fame while playing as a wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals for 17 seasons.
In a recent interview with the Tennis Channel, Fitzgerald expressed his avid interest in tennis and claimed that he followed Grand Slams. Fitzgerald also praised the athletic prowess of tennis players.
"Tennis athletes are the best in the world," Fitzgerald claimed in the interview.
When asked about the tennis players he follows, Fitzgerald mentioned Jessica Pegula's name as one of the players he roots for and hinted at Pegula's affiliation with the NFL as one of the reasons why he wants her to perform well.
"I was pulling for Pegula, you know, she's a part of the NFL brethren, you know, so I would love to see her do well," he said.
Reacting to Fitzgerald's comments from the interview, Jessica Pegula thanked the NFL star for supporting her. The American shared the video of the interview on her Instagram story and wrote:
"Thanks for the shout out @larryfitzgerald NFL Fam."
Jessica Pegula has deep ties with the NFL due to her involvement with the Buffalo Bills
Jessica Pegula belongs to a wealthy family in the USA who have deep ties with various sports. Her father, Terry Pegula, is one of the richest individuals in the country with a net worth of $6.8 billion (as per Forbes). Terry Pegula and his wife Kim Pegula co-own the NFL franchise Buffalo Bills.
Jessica Pegula has been actively involved with the NFL team and tries to make time within her tennis schedule to go and watch NFL games. Pegula also stated that her connection with the NFL has brought her a separate set of fans who connect with her tennis achievements through the NFL.
Pegula was quoted as saying during a post-match press conference at the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun (via tennis.com):
“It's cool to see, like, when I get messages or I see fans and they're not really tennis fans but they become tennis fans as they're huge Bills fans or Sabres fans or whatever it is, or they somehow have a connection back to Buffalo where I'm from. And that's really, I mean, it's really cool because we're not a tennis town, and it's not very popular there.”
Apart from football, the Pegula family also owns the Buffalo Sabres in the National Hockey League (NHL).