Pegula surprises with her opinion on marijuana and influencers at the US Open
The American tennis player was much less critical of all the controversies shaking the tournament and took it with philosophy.
Jessica Pegula has really struggled to secure her spot in the round of 16 of the US Open after coming back against Leylah Fernandez. The American tennis player is one of the main favorites to lift the title in New York, which would mean the first Grand Slam of her career, and she is also one of the players who raises her voice the most in controversies. For that reason, she has decided to comment on the smell of marijuana that several players and the influencers invited by the tournament have complained about and that is generating so much controversy.
Today, Aryna Sabalenka stopped her match because someone was smoking marijuana in the stands and the smell was too strong, and a few days ago Adrian Mannarino was the one who got angry about it. Additionally, there have also been complaints about the continuous disrespect from the influencers invited to the tournament, who are not behaving appropriately on a tennis court. On this occasion, Pegula was more pragmatic, stating that these things are one of New York's trademarks.
"It makes it fun, because it's typical of New York to be so chaotic and disorganized. But yes, of course, I think there are things that could be improved to ensure that the match is a tennis match and let not other factors interfere. I also believe that things are going to happen, and I think that as long as someone can step in and resolve them, it's fine. I don't know what happened in this case, but as long as they can solve the problem, that's great.
If there are flashes or people taking pictures, I tell them: “Hey, that's not allowed,” and they stop doing it. I think I've learned that with these large events and all these tournaments, there will always be some exceptional situation that sometimes escapes your control, so I think as long as it's resolved, everything is fine. Problems will arise. As for the marijuana, I don't know how it can be avoided,” concluded the American.
Pegula finds the solution to the influencer problem
Just like with the marijuana issue, Pegula has more doubts, but in the case of the influencers, the American aligned with her compatriot Coco Gauff, as she believes it is a matter of educating people who are not very familiar with the sport to know how to behave on a tennis court. This discipline is not like soccer or basketball, although as the days have gone by, the situation has notably improved.
"Regarding the influencers, I think that as they attend more tennis matches, they learn more about tennis etiquette that they probably do not know. It's something learned over time. But yes, tennis etiquette is something that is learned by attending these events. Obviously, smoking marijuana is not advisable. I think that should be obvious. It could just be someone smoking during a break behind the stadium, without anyone knowing. But yes, as for the rest, it's just a matter of etiquette.I hope that now that it has been pointed out, when they attend the matches, they are a bit more informed,” she concluded.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Pegula sorprende con su opinión sobre la marihuana y los influencers en el US Open