2024 US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula returns to New York in a bit of a rut

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NEW YORK (AP) — This is supposed to be Jessica Pegula's favorite part of the season. She says so herself.

And why wouldn't it be?

Pegula gets to stay in North America. She gets to compete in front of friendly and supportive crowds. She gets to play on hard courts, her preferred surface. She gets to point toward success at the U.S. Open, which starts Sunday, and which she's always loved for all of the above reasons.

Plus, now she can declare that it was the site of her best Grand Slam performance — a run to the final a year ago.

And yet? Well, things have not quite gone according to plan lately for Pegula, a 31-year-old who was born in New York and is based in Florida. She is seeded No. 4 at Flushing Meadows; that's the good news. Less good? Pegula goes into the U.S. Open having lost four of her most recent six singles matches, including opening-match exits at Wimbledon — her earliest elimination from a major in five years — and Washington last month, and second-round defeats at Montreal and Cincinnati this month.

“I don’t really feel like I’m playing great tennis. At times, I am, but I feel very up and down, kind of sloppy, which I don’t like. It really bothers me. I’m kind of a perfectionist, so I don’t like having to say that,” said Pegula, whose parents own the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres.

“I feel like I’ve gone through phases in my career — a few tournaments — where I feel like that, sometimes, and you have to figure out how to get out of it and not feel sorry for yourself or make excuses,” she added. “I’ve got to figure it out.”

Her performance at the U.S. Open in 2024 began a series of four consecutive appearances in Grand Slam title matches by women from the U.S., including titles for Madison Keys at the Australian Open and Coco Gauff at the French Open — and changed things for Pegula, personally.

It had to, and not simply because that was the most successful run she had produced in 23 career appearances at major tournaments to that point.

Remember (even if she might prefer not to): Pegula was 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals until upsetting then-No. 1 Iga Swiatek in that round there in rather dominant fashion, winning 6-2, 6-4.

Then Pegula reached her first title match at one of the sport's four most important events by eliminating 2023 French Open runner-up Karolina Muchova in three sets, before losing to current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 7-5 in the U.S. Open final.

“There's a little bit more pressure,” Pegula said of how her mindset is different this time around, “but at the same time, (there is) a little bit more confidence. Coming into this swing last year, there wasn’t as much pressure, but I also was a little worried about how I would do.”

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis