Korean American woman reaches US Open Tennis finals

 

Jessica Pegula with her mother, Kim Pegula.

Surprising almost everybody but herself and her family, Korean American Jessica Pegula  is playing in the finals of the US Open Tennis Tournament.

Ranked No.6 in the world, Pegula  advanced to her first Grand Slam final after mounting a rousing comeback to defeat Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the US Open semifinals on Thursday. The 30-year-old Buffalo native trailed 6-1, 2-0 before storming back to notch her 15th win in her last 16 matches

"It's a childhood dream," Pegula said. "It's what I wanted when I was a kid. It's a lot of work, a lot of hard work put in. You couldn't even imagine how much goes into it.

"So to be able to overcome all those challenges and say that I get a chance at the title Saturday is what we play for as players, let alone being able to do that in my home country here, in my home Slam. It's perfect, really."

Pegula is the oldest American woman in the Open Era to make a maiden Grand Slam final. She is the third American woman aged 30 or over to make a US Open final, joining Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova.

FYI: Watch the US Open's Women's finals Saturday (Sept. 7) on ESPN at 4 p.m. EDT; 1 p.m. PDT

Jessica Pegula is in her first Grand Slam final.

Jessica Pegula's mother

Pegula is the daughter of Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the National Football League's Buffalo Bills and the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres.

Jessica Pegula's father, is a self-made billionaire, making his fortune through his independent oil and gas company East Resources. He sold the bulk of his businness in 2010 for $4.7 billion. He used that money to buy the Sabres in 2011 and the Bills in 2014.

Jessica Pegula's mother, Kim, was born in Seoul, South Korea. At age 5, she was adopted by Ralph and Marilyn Kerr, and grew up in Fairport, New York. Kim and Terry met in 1991 and married in 1993.

While Terry Pegula built his fortune, Kim was an active partner in the day-to-day operation of the family's various businesses interests, including the professional sports teams.

In June 2022, Kim went into cardiac arrest, changing the lives of the Pegula family. She suffered significant brain damage and memory issues and is still undergoing therapy. Kim has rarely made any public appearances since.

"My mom is the president and owner of both the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills," Jessica wrote in the Player's Tribune in February 2023. "She loved to work. She did everything and our family constantly told her how she needs to slow down and take time for herself. She was the woman behind my dad’s success and my dad would happily admit that.

"She jumped into this journey with him and learned many lessons along the way, breaking a lot of barriers. She was the shift in culture, positivity, and the heartbeat of many of the employees. She gave everyone so much of her time and effort. She lived it and loved it, and it was felt by everyone she met," Jessica wrote. "Now we come to the realization that all of that is most likely gone. That she won’t be able to be that person anymore."

Representation Matters 

Because of her personal history, Kim Pegula didn't grow up exposed to her Korean heritage.

"I don't know a lot of my heritage because she really didn't want to know that much and she didn't really grow up in it," admitted Jessica Pegula .

Jessica Pegula's first trip to Korea to compete in the Hana Bank Korea in 2019 changed her perspective. It was also her mother's first trip back to Seoul. The family used the tournamet to build a family trip around the tournament. The mother and daughter even visited the orphanage where her mother was taken in.

"I think that experience made me realize the importance of my heritage," Jessica Pegula said. "Asian people love other Asian people and Koreans loved her. She doesn't speak Korean, but they were so proud."

"Around that time is when I started to realize how important it was," said Pegula.

Jessica Pegula's own leadership decisions have followed her mother's example. She has been a member of the WTA Player's Council since 2020 and recently joined the Asian American Pacific Islander Tennis Association as a founding member of the board of directors.

"Even though I didn't exactly grow up fully Korean," Pegula said, "it's something that now I think me and my family and my sister have also wanted to learn more about because we realize how important it is for those that come over here and those that are in Asia, they see us in these different lights representing them when there's not a lot of us."

Jessica Pegula will be on the biggest stage of her career when she faces  World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka for the US Open title on Saturday. The match is a rematch of last month's Cincinnati Open jard fought final, which Sabalenka won 6-3, 7-5.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X or at the blog Views From the Edge.