Jessica Pegula has labelled 19-year-old French Open champion Mirra Andreeva a “diva” and slammed her coach Conchita Martínez.
The American made the remarks during a live-streamed practice session at Indian Wells in California, where the world’s top eight women’s tennis players are gearing up for the season-ending WTA Finals.
Pegula blasts Andreeva
According to Sky Sports, Pegula was seen telling coach Mark Knowles: “Conchita’s always been very nice to me, but I lost a little respect for her.
“I’m just like, this girl [Andreeva], she’s a nice girl, [but] she’s a diva. She needs to be humbled. Conchita eggs on her behaviour.
“If I were her coach and my player had just played four great games, she’s up 4-0, she gets mad at me and chases me down, I’d tell her not to talk to me like that.
“She’s bad. I feel like she needs to be provoked to get fired up and react.”
Pegula then compared Andreeva to 22-year-old Coco Gauff, saying: “It’s so funny because if you see her and Coco’s mentality, if she had Coco’s mentality, she’s better than her.
“Serve and everything and moves just as good.”
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WTA alters feed
Following the incident, the WTA admitted they had failed to advise players that microphones were present on the practice courts.
An official statement said: “We sincerely apologise for failing to meet our responsibility to ensure players and coaches were properly informed.
“The microphones were intended to capture the ambient sounds of tennis, not player or coach conversations.
“However, conversations were captured and we recognise that we failed to ensure the appropriate safeguards were in place.
“We are continuing with live streaming of practice but there will not be any audio.”
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