‘She saved her life’ – Jessica Pegula opens up about her mother Kim’s cardiac arrest last year

Jessica Pegula has opened up about her mother suffering a cardiac arrest last year.

Pegula says she received the news following the 2022 French Open and credited her sister Kelly for saving their mother’s life.

“A few days after I got home,” she wrote. “I got a call around midnight from my sister Kelly who was staying at my parents’ house. Something was wrong with our mum, and she was headed to the hospital in an ambulance.

“My mum was asleep when my dad woke up to her going into cardiac arrest and she was unresponsive for quite a while. My sister gave her CPR until the ambulance arrived. She saved her life. Even though she doesn’t like to take credit for this terrible situation, she absolutely saved her life, followed by the critical job performed by the paramedics who arrived and were able to restore a heartbeat.”

Pegula missed most of the grass season but returned to tennis at Wimbledon – an experience she said was not “the most fun” but provided her with pride given the situation.

“I went and played Wimbledon and won my first two rounds. I was sick with a nasty sinus infection, probably from the stress of what had happened and living in and out of a hospital for two weeks. I had to deal with a lot of speculation and questions surrounding her health, even shutting down rumours that she had died.

“It wasn’t necessarily the most fun Wimbledon experience I remember. I had a few good wins, and I was proud that I was able to go out and compete considering the situation.”

With her mother’s high-profile status heading up two sports franchises, Pegula was expecting to follow in Kim’s footsteps at the end of her tennis career. However, with the seriousness of her health issues, Jessica said she thought this could end up happening sooner rather than later.

“Suddenly, I went from ‘Let’s celebrate top 10 in the world’ to ‘Do I need to start thinking about my career after tennis a lot sooner than I thought?’ ‘Does my dad and family need help?’ ‘Maybe I should just go back to school and work for the family.’

“I am 28 and I take pride in being able to handle every situation thrown at me, but this was A LOT.

“In November 2022, I was able to win my first WTA 1000 title in Guadalajara, Mexico. Before the finals, I was uncontrollably crying in the locker room. I am not a big crier, but I cried. It wasn’t even sad tears, it was almost happy, because I just had this feeling I was going to win. In my acceptance speech I dedicated it to my mom.

“I wanted her to know that even after a terrible six months, I still fought every day because of her. If she could fight through what she was going through, I could too.”

In a cruel twist of fate, in January this year, Damar Hamlin, a player for the Pegula family’s Buffalo Bills, suffered a cardiac arrest during an NFL game.

“My stomach sunk because it felt like the exact same thing all over again,” said Pegula. “I was sitting on the bench for a tennis event in Sydney, Australia. I wanted to throw up.”

As Hamlin went through his own period of recovery, Pegula chose to wear the player’s number three on her own outfit during the Australian Open.

“I decided to wear the number 3 patch to honour Damar Hamlin,” she said before adding: “However, it didn’t feel like it was just for him, it felt like it was for my mom as well.

“It has been a tough year but at the same time I feel lucky and blessed. I am thankful she is still with us when other families may not have been so lucky.”

Pegula reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne in the singles and the semis of the women’s doubles alongside fellow American Coco Gauff.

Speaking for Eurosport during the tournament John McEnroe praised her mental strength.

“I think she is mentally rock solid, she’s got herself in a place where it’s intimidating how strong mentally she is,” said McEnroe.

“Her game, it doesn’t feel like it’s going to break down where some of the other players [do].”