WTA Takes ‘Full Responsibility’ for Livestream of Pegula’s Hot-Mic Comments

The WTA is taking the blame for a hot-mic incident involving Jessica Pegula at the WTA Finals.

Pegula, the world No. 5 and one of the most active members of the tour’s player council, was heard during a livestream of her practice Wednesday talking to her coach, Mark Knowles, about World No. 3 Mirra Andreeva. The American star said Andreeva “needs to be humbled.”

“She’s always been very nice to me, but I’ve lost a little bit of respect for her because I’m just like, this girl—I mean, she’s a nice girl, but she’s a diva,” Pegula said. 

In a statement to Front Office Sports, the tour responded, saying: “The WTA takes full responsibility for failing to inform our players and their teams that microphones, in place to give fans a livestream of the players’ practice, were active on the courts at the WTA Finals. We sincerely apologize for failing to meet our responsibility to ensure players and coaches were properly informed.”

A tour source told FOS that the microphones were not meant to capture conversations of players and coaches, but rather ambient noise during practice. Live streams will continue without audio during practices at the WTA Finals, the tour’s season finale featuring its top eight players, which starts Sunday.

The hot mics picked up other comments from Pegula as well. “If I was a coach and my girl, you just played four great games, and you’re up four-zero, and you’re mad at me, hitting balls at me, I would be like, first of all, [that’s] disrespectful to the other person,” she said. “You’re up four-zero, shut the fuck up. But she just can’t.”

Later, Pegula also named fellow American Coco Gauff, saying that if Andreeva “had Coco’s mentality, she’d be better than Coco.”

Representatives for Pegula, Gauff, and Andreeva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Livestreamed practices are common throughout tennis tournaments, including the US Open in New York and the BNP Paribas Open, which is also held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

But privacy issues have been a long standing issue in tennis, particularly at Grand Slams where cameras are present in many of the backstage areas. 

At the Australian Open in January, cameras caught Gauff smashing her racket after losing in the quarterfinal. Gauff admitted that she thought she was away from the view of cameras, and Pegula showed support for her.

“I’m not a fan of the cameras,” Pegula said. “You’re just going about your day and feel like someone’s constantly filming you. I saw online that people were zooming in on player’s phones. Literally the only time you’re not being recorded is when you’re going into the shower and going to the bathroom.”