'Definitely don't think I was playing bad': Jessica Pegula befuddled at Wimbledon exit, rules out mooted knee injury

Jessica Pegula was dumped out of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships by Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3, 6-2. But while the American was poor with 24 unforced errors to very minimal winners, she was slightly befuddled by the exit.

Not used to losing in the first round, Pegula hasn't lost since 2020 in the opener at Wimbledon reaching the 2023 Quarter-Finals and said that she wasn't able to figure it out and it just wasn't her day.

“Do I think I played the best match ever? No, but I definitely don’t think I was playing bad. It wasn’t like I was playing that bad,” Pegula said post match.

“She was just hitting her shots and going for it, serving big, serving high percentage, going for big second serves and redirecting the ball. It was just her day."

“I tried my best to try and match her level. I thought I was going to be able to do it there, at least in the second (set) and maybe if she dropped a little bit. She didn’t really drop her level at all. That’s the most frustrating part is that I wasn’t able to figure it out, which I feel like I should be able to. So that’s always disappointing.“

But while it could be mooted that a knee issue could have hampered her, she is not using this as an excuse and said it was merely a bad day and she felt good going in.

“The knee feels good. There wasn’t really anything bothering me,” she stated.

“I’m managing it pretty well. I think it’s not holding me back. I had a little bit of a neck injury as well that’s been on and off this year. But at the same time, being able to play the last few weeks and get my body acclimated to the grass, it’s actually felt really good.“So I feel good. That’s why it’s kind of disappointing that I’m not able to keep it going here (at Wimbledon).”

But while this is annoying for her. She is upset but gunning for the US Hard Court swing. One where she has to defend a final spot at the US Open without her trademark consistency being there all season.

“I used to kind of have trouble getting past the first round for a while. I remember I had a really tough match. I just told myself, I’m done losing first round, I’m not losing first round. I’ve been able to flip that mentality and have great results at slams and be really consistent at slams. For this to happen today, it’s disappointing. I’m upset that I wasn’t able to turn anything around. “But at the same time, I do feel like she played kind of insane.“The bonus is I can go prep for the hard courts, which seems to be my favourite surface.”

Match Statistics Cocciaretto vs. Pegula