Topline
Jessica Pegula moved one step closer to her first-ever major semifinal this week by advancing to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, but talk surrounding the 30-year-old tennis player Tuesday was focused on the post-game press conference at which she clapped back at “outrageous” rumors she’s lived an ultra- lavish life thanks to her parents—the billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills—claims she has repeatedly denied.
Key Facts
Pegula on Monday night said it’s “a little annoying” that people assume she has a butler, a chauffeured limousine and only flies on private planes because her parents—Terry and Kim Pegula—are billionaires.
Pegula, the sixth-ranked tennis player in the world, was born to one of the richest families in America—her father is oil-and-gas billionaire Terry Pegula and her mother is South Korean-born Kim Pegula, former president of the family’s sports holding company and one of only three principal NFL team owners who were not born in the United States.
Terry Pegula was ranked as the 378th-richest person in the world Tuesday with an estimated net worth of $7.7 billion.
He made his money through his oil and gas business, East Resources, and sold the bulk of the company to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion in 2010 before buying the Buffalo Sabres hockey team for $189 million in 2011 and the Buffalo Bills NFL team for $1.4 billion in 2014.
The values of both teams have risen considerably: The Bills had an estimated value of $4.2 billion on Forbes’ most recent list of NFL valuations and the Sabres were valued at$750 million on the most recent Forbes list of NHL valuations.
Terry Pegula also has several real estate investments in Buffalo, owns shares in country music label Black River Entertainment and, in 2022, established a financial consulting service called Bison Wealth.
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Crucial Quote
“It’s that people think I have a butler, that I get chauffeured around. I have a private limo, that I fly private everywhere,” Jessica Pegula said at the press conference. “I’m definitely not like that. People can think what they want.”
Key Background
Pegula was a decorated college player during her time at the University of Pittsburgh and played in her first major tournament as a member of a doubles team at the U.S. Open in 2011. She played in a Grand Slam as a singles player for the first time at the U.S. Open in 2015 and has since made it to six Grand Slam quarterfinals—but has never advanced past that round. Her most recent quarterfinal appearance was a stunning loss to Marketa Vondrousova at Wimbledon last year (Pegula was up 4-1 in the third set before Vondrousova won five games in a row to take the match). Pegula didn’t break into the top 100 players until 2019, her seventh year on the Women’s Tennis Association tour, and is now ranked as the sixth-best women’s singles tennis player in the world.
What To Watch For
Pegula’s next match. She will play Iga Świątek, the No. 1 ranked women’s player in the world, at 7 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
