Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul recently joked about their playful banter, which took place following Pegula’s revelation about not teaming up with Paul anymore in doubles. The duo became part of a series of memes around the incident, which later left the likes of Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton, and other fellow Americans in stitches.
Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, and Ben Shelton React to Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul’s ‘Dumping’ Episode
Following their opening loss at the Eisenhower Cup, Pegula decided to call time on her doubles partnership with Tommy Paul. The world No. 5 shed light on the reasoning behind her move, revealing that Paul had been “distraught” ahead of the match after a string of first-round exits in tiebreak events.
Pegula and Paul teamed up for the Tie Break Tens exhibition at Indian Wells against a star-studded field that included defending champions Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina. While Pegula arrived in strong form, riding a run of seven semifinal appearances on tour, Paul, too, had put together a solid stretch, finishing runner-up in Delray Beach.
However, after suffering a 10-3 defeat to Fritz at the MGM Slam exhibition, Paul was left a little “distraught,” as Pegula revealed on “The Players’ Box” podcast a few days later, where she also hinted that she might not team up with him again.
When the clip surfaced on Instagram, it caught Paul’s attention, and he playfully commented, “Did I just get dumped?!” The WTA world No. 5 promptly responded with a funny suggestion of her own, writing, “Sorry @tommypaull I think you should go back with @madisonkeys.”
2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys also joined the discussion and asked, “@tommypaull sorry @jpegula dumped you but maybe we can win it all next year?”
While the episode may have left much of the tennis world in stitches, it didn’t end there. A series of similar images of Paul and Pegula posing together, turned into memes, was recently shared in a collaborative Instagram post by “The Players’ Box” podcast and Pegula. In the pictures, Pegula is seen smiling, while Paul keeps a straight face.
The first meme read, “When you find out you got dumped from a podcast clip.” Another notable meme joked about Pegula’s potential next partner, featuring the same picture with Paul maintaining a straight face. “When you told her you can’t hit a volley, and she says, ‘You won’t have to anyway. I already asked Learner Tien to be my next partner,'” it read.
The last meme, however, saw Paul with a smile on his face, and the meme read, “When she told him, ‘We can still be friends.'”
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The series of pictures later caught the attention of the tennis world, including several big players like Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff. While Shelton wrote, “I’m ded,” Gauff shared three laughing emojis to share her reaction. Tien, who reached the final of the Eisenhower Cup with Amanda Anisimova, reacted with a loud, crying face, while Keys joked, “Rip team P^2. It was fun while it lasted.”
The incident underlined the playful bond shared by the American players off the court. However, their focus now shifts firmly to the ongoing Miami Open. Pegula, the fifth seed, will face the winner of Francesca Jones and Venus Williams in the second round. Meanwhile, Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, is set to take on the winner between Darja Semenistaja and Elisabetta Cocciaretto in her opening match.
Meanwhile, Paul and Shelton have also received byes into the second round as seeds, and while Paul will start his campaign against the winner of Zhizhen Zhang and Adrian Mannarino, Shelton will face either Matteo Arnaldi or Alexander Shevchenko.
