Jessica Pegula Clears the Air on Potential Andy Roddick Partnership With an Update on Her Coaching Team

Who will be the next coach of the Buffalo, NY native tennis superstar, Jessica Pegula? Well, there has been a major discussion on this in the tennis world after she parted ways with her long-time coach David Witt. There were rumors surrounding an exciting partnership between Andy Roddick and Jessica Pegula. But as per the latest update coming out, Jessica Pegula herself has put that to rest.

David Witt has coached Pegula for almost five years and together the partnership landed four singles titles and six QF finishes in the Grand Slam tournaments. They seemed to be a constant in a world of frequent coaching changes and even Witt was surprised with this announcement. Jessica Pegula has now brought in two former tour players to her coaching team. But what happened to Roddick-Pegula?

Jessica Pegula has recovered from her neck injury and is back on tour in San Diego 

Talking about the rumors of him partnering with Pegula, Andy Roddick said, “I think all I did with Jess and all I have done we will continue. We will just ask questions that she knows the answers to already.” He added that he doesn’t think Jessica Pegula needs anyone to dictate to her what needs to happen next. 

“She’s three in the world – four in the world right now. So I think she is excited about being curious about different parts of her game,” Andy Roddick. Jessica Pegula is known for her frequent struggles with her services. And, talking about serves, who knows it better than Andy Roddick? He was one of the best servers in the tennis world and hence a partnership seemed to be on the cards between the two Americans.

READ MORE: Jessica Pegula Helps Tennis Legend Andy Roddick in His Quest to Rediscover Form After Retirement

Pegula was also found taking advice from Roddick on a call. But according to Pegula’s recent revelation, she is now working with Mark Merklein & Mark Knowles. Both are former tour players and in fact, Knowles was world number 1, in doubles.

Jessica Pegula celebrated her 30th birthday on Saturday before stepping onto the court in the San Diego Open. She’ll next take on Germany’s Jule Niemeier on Thursday. Can the new duo fill in the shoes of the former WTA Coach of the Year? Or, we’ll see yet another disappointing campaign from Pegula?

Pegula’s former coach ‘Never saw it coming’

Recently during an interview with TENNIS.com, David Witt revealed, “It was a total surprise to me. Never saw it coming.” However, he thanked Jessica Pegula for giving him the opportunity to work with her since 2019. Witt now looks forward to his next challenge.

But before that, he sounded a bit disappointed when he said, “She’s obviously knocking on the door [of winning a major]. Our goals were to win a Grand Slam. Obviously, that was cut short, didn’t get to accomplish that, but I think everything else has been awesome.”

This decision came after her second-round exit from the Australian Open this year. What are your thoughts on the recent trend of frequent changes in the coaching team by the tennis players? Do you think it helps or does it hamper the momentum and planning for the whole team?