Jessica Pegula recently teamed up with her podcast co-hosts, Madison Keys and Desirae Krawczyk, for a gelato-tasting outing in Rome amid the Italian Open, bringing along several fellow American stars for the fun. In the wake of the outing, Coco Gauff revealed that Pegula didn’t pay for everyone’s treats, prompting an amusing response from the world No. 5.
Jessica Pegula Responds to Coco Gauff’s Gelato Outing Complaints
Gauff appeared on Tennis Channel after commencing her Italian Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Tereza Valentová, where she humorously called Pegula out for making all the players pay for their own gelato.
“And actually, someone commented and they were like, “Did she pay for your gelato?” And I was like, “No, she did not.” We all had to pay for our gelato. I’ve given her ideas for The Player’s Box, but she hasn’t used any of them, so maybe they’re not that good. But I thought she could have paid for our gelato,” Gauff said.
The 22-year-old also alluded to Pegula’s status as a billionaire heiress, hilariously referring to her as “big mama” while suggesting the group deserved compensation given how much attention the podcast clip received. Gauff had also playfully complained about the lack of an appearance fee during the outing, only for Madison Keys and Pegula to blame their “low budget.”
“And I asked her, I was like, “You’re not going to pay big mama.” Especially Jess. I mean, if you know, you know. So, I was like, “Girl.” But also I’m like looking at the views. I think that’s gonna be one of their most viewed videos,” she added. “So I feel like we should get something out of it. So I’m specifically talking to Jess here, but also Madison, Dez. Jenny wasn’t there, so she gets a pass. But those three, they should have split it between all of us.”
Pegula responded to Gauff’s complaints during her own Tennis Channel appearance after defeating Zeynep Sönmez 6-4, 6-0. After laughing off the “big mama” remark, she joked about how Gauff, Ben Shelton, and Frances Tiafoe sent her in “mom mode” with their requests for her to pick up the gelato tab.
“I don’t know why I’m getting crap for inviting people to have ice cream. She’s so funny when she said that [Big Mama]. Frances, there was like a kiosk, like an electronic kiosk where you get your ticket. I’m pretty sure he didn’t know how to use it. So, I think he was just trying to get out of it and was like, ‘Oh, like Jess, are you paying?,'” Pegula said.
“And then Coco kind of jumped in and then Ben kind of said something and I kind of went like a joke like in mom mode like, ‘Okay, kids, like, do you need me to give you the credit card so you can I can buy your ice cream? Like, is that what you need?'” she added.
Nevertheless, Pegula admitted that Gauff may actually deserve some compensation for the way she promoted their podcast after the outing. “She gave us a lot of shout outs though, so I will say we said no commission, but we might have to start paying up because she was giving us a ton of shout outs for the Player’s Box podcast. So, we do appreciate that, Coco. I will give you props on that.”
Continuing her Italian Open campaign, Jessica Pegula will lock horns with Rebeka Masarova in the third round of the WTA 1000 event, while Coco Gauff is set to face Solana Sierra. On the men’s side, Shelton will take on Nikoloz Basilashvili in the second round, with Tiafoe facing Ignacio Buse.
