Jessica Pegula opens up on anxiety of doping tests amid Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek suspensions

Jessica Pegula has revealed the stressful reality of going through doping tests. Last year, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek faced suspensions for doping violations.

The Italian and the Pole faced brief suspensions for a small period of time. The former was banned for three months earlier this year, following testing positive for a banned substance. Swiatek faced a month-long suspension in the second half of the 2024 season after her case, which involved a contaminated medication.

After these incidents, Pegula also revealed the stressful reality of doping tests in the latest edition of 'The Player's Box.' Pegula, Madison Keys, and Jennifer Brady talked about the doping procedure, saying that it was stressful. Opening up about how she took care of the tests and how it made her paranoid, she said:

"I also take a while cuz you have to list all of like if you anything that you're taking or whatever. And I'm like super diligent about that. I'm like, Advil, Tylenol. I list everything because it's just like I don't know. You see like all these stories and I just get super paranoid. Its' so stressful and then they don't send you like a 'oh you're clean.' It's just you would only get notified I'm assuming if you failed." (20:00 onwards)

She added:

"So, like it's stressful when they send you like the text or the email like you have a new message in your mailbox regarding. It's so terrible, it's so stressful. And then just having to remember that whether you're in competition, so when you're playing an event or out of competition, marking your hour every single day for the rest of your life pretty much. It's a lot."

Along with this, Pegula and Madison Keys shared emotional anecdotes about Ben Shelton and other American players.

Jessica Pegula gives honest take on playing tennis after motherhood

In one of the editions of the podcast, 'The Player's Box', Jessica Pegula opened up about handling her tennis career after motherhood. When questioned by Jennifer Brady if she would consider her tennis career after becoming a mother, Pegula immediately nodded a 'no,' revealing that it was not on the cards for her.

"No. There is no chance I would come back after having a kid. I admire and respect the ones that do but that's just not on the cards for me. I cannot see myself doing that at all," said Jessica Pegula. (from 11:59)

Echoing Jessica Pegula's thoughts, Madison Keys also said that she won't continue her pro career, as it would be 'hard' for her to handle.