Jessica Pegula fell victim to the biggest upset of the French Open so far, suffering an unexpected loss to world No. 83 Kimberly Birrell in the first round. Andy Roddick has shared his opinion on Pegula’s surprising early exit, explaining why the result feels especially bizarre.
Andy Roddick Breaks Down Jessica Pegula’s “Shocking” French Open Loss
No. 5 seed Pegula was expected to cruise to victory against Birrell in her opening match at Roland Garros. The American had a clear advantage, as she held a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head record, while Birrell had never won a main draw match at the clay-court Major.
Although Pegula made a dominant start to the contest by clinching the opening set 6-1, the Australian rallied from a break down in the second and went on to pull off a stunning 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 upset. With her loss, the world No. 5 became the highest-ranked player to crash out of the French Open in the first round across both the men’s and women’s draws.
During a recent episode of his “Served” podcast, Roddick pointed out that Pegula’s loss is particularly “shocking” because she has a reputation for rarely losing to lower-ranked players, compared to Coco Gauff and other top stars.
“Big upset. Big upset. Career high 60 in the world currently ranked, if I’m right 83, but beats Pegula. It’s such a shocking result, if you’re going to say a result’s shocking let’s talk about why, without just being critical I think it’s shocking because Jess doesn’t lose matches like this. She doesn’t lose early rounds to lower-ranked players,” Roddick said.
“She just hasn’t been that person for five or six years. If you were like who’s least likely to get upset, Jess is on that short list of of people, maybe even more so than like a Coco or other high ranked players. Shocking,” he added.
While giving props to Birrell and her coach, the former world No. 1 said that Pegula’s loss was difficult to watch.
“Birrell played smart, coached by veteran Nicole Pratt, who was a good player in her own right. But that was a tough one. That was a tough one to watch,” he added.
Despite her disappointing showing in Paris, Roddick backed the world No. 5 to bounce back with a strong run at Wimbledon, saying:
“All eyes go to the grass for Jess Pegula now. I’ve said this for a ton of years, I think her best service could be grass. It hasn’t borne fruit yet. I’ve been wrong, but I still think Jess Pegula’s going to be in that conversation at Wimbledon.”
Ahead of her Wimbledon campaign, Jessica Pegula will kick off the grass swing at the Queen’s Club Championships in London. She will join Amanda Anisimova, Victoria Mboko, and Emma Raducanu, among others, at the WTA 500 event, which begins on June 8.
