Pegula, WTA Stars Eye Live Podcast Shows at Tournaments

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Players’ Box podcast, a weekly program featuring four WTA Tour stars, is exploring hosting live shows at tournaments as part of its next evolution, co-host Jessica Pegula told Front Office Sports.

“I think tournaments really like the idea, and it’s a way to get us to engage with fans,” said Pegula, the No. 5-ranked WTA player.

The Players’ Box, which has released 33 episodes since launching at the US Open in August, filmed an upcoming episode at the Charleston Open Players’ Party on Sunday ahead of this week’s WTA 500 event, which this year doubled its purse to $2.3 million.

Pegula—one of the most influential voices on the WTA Tour—and fellow co-hosts Madison Keys (ranked No. 18), Jennifer Brady, and Desirae Krawczyk are all competing in either the singles or doubles draws. “They were really keen on us doing it here,” Pegula said.

The quartet had planned to do a live show at the Miami Open, but was unable to due to the poor weather at the joint ATP/WTA tournament, Pegula said.

“For us it’s more fun than maybe a tournament ask—that we get to do our own thing with it,” Pegula said. “So, hopefully we can do more live pods at a few of the tournaments this year.”

Keys, winner of the 2025 Australian Open, said it has “been really fun to get to do something else” beyond playing tennis. “It’s been really nice to get to show our personalities a bit more,” she said when asked by FOS during a Charleston Open media day. “I think it’s hard for fans to fully grasp who we are as people, because obviously they see us in such a small portion of our lives.”

The show often features other WTA players as guests, like rising star Alex Eala on this week’s episode.

Screen Time

Player-led podcasting in tennis has become more popular since the launch of Andy Roddick’s show, Served, in 2024. The former world No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion, now retired, has nearly 200,000 subscribers on YouTube, regularly interviewing top players and recapping recent tournaments.

Roddick’s tennis podcast network also includes Love All With Kim Clijsters, hosted by the former world No. 1 in women’s singles.

The Players’ Box is produced by Rewired Talent, a media company founded by reality TV star and Jason Tartick, a former contestant on The Bachelorette.

“My husband actually grew up with him a little bit in Buffalo, and we have known him for a long time,” Pegula said. “He was like, ‘Jason, that’s what he does now—podcasts.’ … We ended up really liking him and his team.”

The show is distributed on all major podcasting platforms and includes a video option on YouTube, where it has more than 16,000 subscribers.

Pegula’s parents, Terry and Kim Pegula, own the NFL’s Bills and the NHL’s Sabres. Her husband, Taylor Gahagen, is a former executive of those teams’ parent company, Pegula Sports & Entertainment, but now works in wealth management.