World's richest tennis star owns private jet and even offered use of it to Wimbledon rivals
Jessica Pegula is the daughter of a billionaire businessman and is set to inherit a fortune, while already enjoying luxuries such as a private jet and a superyacht
Wimbledon star Jessica Pegula is the heiress to a multi-billion pound fortune
(Image: Getty Images )
While tennis players are no strangers to enjoying the finer things in life, Jessica Pegula's riches put her on an entirely different level to most.
The American, who is still yet to win a Grand Slam after being knocked out of Wimbledon in the first round on Tuesday, boasts a personal net worth of almost £12million.
But it is the fact she will one day inherit some of her father Terry Pegula's eye-watering £5.6billion fortune that has earned her the tag of 'world's richest tennis player'.
Terry's ranking as the 418th wealthiest person by Forbes comes from his ventures in the oil and gas industry, while the billionaire magnate also owns sporting giants Buffalo Bills (NFL) and Buffalo Sabres (NHL). A £58m superyacht and a private jet are among the family's lavish luxuries, which Pegula also uses.
However, the world No. 3 tennis star doesn't keep those luxuries solely to herself, as shown by her incredibly selfless gesture to let her fellow finalists use her jet at Austin's ATX Open in March.
There, the 31-year-old competed in the women's singles final on the Sunday, beating fellow American McCartney Kessler 7-5 6-2.
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The pair, along with doubles finalists Zhang Shuai, Yue Yuan and Anna Blinkova faced a gruelling 1,263 round trip to get to their next tournament in Indian Wells, California.
That would have involved a late-night transfer in Los Angeles or making long trips to airports in Dallas and Houston, which would have hampered their preparation for Wednesday's tournament start.
Pegula stuck around in Austin for the conclusion of the doubles final, where Yue and Blinkova beat Kessler and Shuai 3-6 6-1 10-4, to fly all of the players straight from Texas to California, so that they could all make it on time.
China's Zhang immediately took to Instagram to voice her appreciation for the gesture, posting a snap of the private jet and writing: "She [Pegula] could have left right after her singles final, but she is such a selfless and generous girl.
"This message is not to show I took the jet, [I] just wanted to appreciate and transfer the love,' to which Pegula replied: 'You're too cute.'
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Jessica Pegula has suffered an early exit at Wimbledon
(Image: Getty )
Russian Blinkova and China's Yue shared Zhang's story on Instagram and also thanked Pegula, with the former writing: 'Thank you Jessie for your kindness and generosity.'
Unfortunately, all five of the tennis stars, including Pegula, suffered first round singles exits at Wimbledon this week. Pegula unexpectedly crashed out in the opening round against world No. 116 Elisabetta Cocciaretto, becoming the highest-ranked player to exit the tournament.
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The No. 3 seed lost 6-2 6-3 in just 58 minutes, marking her only first round exit since the 2020 French Open. Pegula had been one of the favourites for the title and is a former quarter-finalist in SW19 but appeared to struggle with a knee injury, which was taped up.
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