Jessica Pegula has the chance to make history this year US Open tennis tournament. Pegula, currently ranked No. 3 in the world, is at a career high and is facing her best chance yet to win her first major. A deep run could also make her the first American woman to reach the top spot in the world rankings WTA rankings since Serena Williams over a decade ago.
Pegula, 32, has already built an impressive career on and off the court, earning over $26 million in tournament prize money while securing brand deals with companies such as IBM, Hyatt and The Farmer’s Dog. But there is another part of her story that has long haunted her: her family’s extraordinary wealth.
Her father, Terry Pegula, built a fortune in the oil and gas industry before devoting much of his attention – and billions of dollars – to professional sports. In 2010, he sold most of his company, East Resources, to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion. The following year he bought the New York NHL team Buffalo Sabers for $189 million and outbid groups in 2014 including Jon Bon Jovi and Donald Trump to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills for $1.4 billion. Today he and his wife Kim Pegula have one together Net worth of around 9.3 billion US dollars.
For Jessica, however, her father’s fortune is something she tries not to let dictate her career as a professional athlete.
“I’ve always tried to act like a normal person because that’s who I am,” says Jessica told The times Earlier this year. “I’m definitely aware that I was very privileged and had a lot of good opportunities and I didn’t want to let them go to waste.”
Terry Pegula turned a $7,500 loan into an oil empire — and his daughter shared his passion for hard work
Terry grew up in rural northeastern Pennsylvania. His father worked as a truck driver and miner. Terry studied mathematics at Penn State University before transferring to the school’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering program. He graduated in 1973.
After college, he moved to Texas to work for Getty Oil Company, but later returned to the Rust Belt. In 1983, he borrowed $7,500 from family and friends to start East Resources, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company in the Appalachian Basin.
Over almost three decades Terry Pegula built the company into one of the largest private oil and gas companies in the United States and eventually sold most of East Resources Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion in 2010. In 2014, he sold another $1.75 billion worth of assets.
For Jessica, the story of starting with relatively little and building something through persistence was central to her family’s ethos. She was born in 1994 and started playing tennis at the age of seven. However, she said her family didn’t become rich until she was a teenager.
“My dad is a great worker,” Jessica said The times. “He grew up with nothing and built his way up, and that attitude was instilled in my family from a young age.”
“Some people have the impression that it’s really easy for me because my dad is very wealthy, but that didn’t happen until I was 17 or 18,” she added.
By this point, Jessica had already established herself as a promising young tennis player. At 17, she received a wildcard for the main draw of the 2011 US Open doubles tournament. Four years later, she made her singles debut.
But Jessica’s rise to the top of the sport was gradual. The 32-year-old was described as “Late bloomerBy tennis standards. The two players ahead of her in the WTA rankings – No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Elena Rybakina – are 28 and 27, respectively, and have already won multiple Grand Slam titles.
Jessica, on the other hand, is still on the hunt for her first big trophy – and said it’s always been her goal reach the No. 1 ranking one day. However, she said neither her age nor her family’s wealth has changed what it takes to get there.
“Anybody who knows sports, is an athlete, is a strong competitor or has gone very far, I think knows that unless you work hard, are talented and have a real desire to get there, you won’t really get there,” Jessica said Forbes in 2023. “It’s really difficult.”
This philosophy echoes the advice Terry gave his children a lifelong message: “Work hard, love what you do, and treat people right.”
On Friday, September 4, Jessica defeated No. 31 Leylah Fernandez to advance to the fourth round of the 2026 US Open, where she will face No. 16 Sorana Cirstea of Romania. Assets I asked the Pegulas for comment but received no response.
Many of the biggest tennis stars came from humble beginnings – and built their own fortunes
Jessica Pegula isn’t the only rising tennis star who comes from a wealthy family.
Emma Navarro is the US Open number 26 – and her father, Ben Navarro, has one appreciated Net worth of $3.2 billion after a career in finance. Like the Pegula family, Emma has emphasized the role her family’s work ethic has played in her own success.
“My family instilled in me the value of hard work, resilience and perseverance,” Emma said said Earlier this year. “My father always taught us to never give up, no matter the circumstances, and to always give 100 percent effort to whatever you do.”
However, there is no uniform recipe for becoming a successful tennis player. While getting into the sport can be expensive, with the cost of training, equipment and club memberships high, some of the sport’s top stars come from families without much wealth. Many have gone on to build their own fortunes worth millions of dollars.
Serena and Venus Williams, for example, grew up in a middle-class family in Compton, California, before becoming two of the most successful and well-known players in tennis history. Serena’s net worth is appreciated at $400 million, while Venus did over $50 million their name built through prize money, endorsements and investments.
The sisters have often credited their upbringing as shaping their careers.
“I think the main value is that [my parents] It just instilled humility in me and I think that beats any championship or anything because it keeps you grounded as an individual,” Williams said CNBC. “It keeps you respectful and it keeps you like everyone else because at the end of the day we’re all the same.”
Novak Djokovicwho has won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other male player, has highlighted the sacrifices his parents made to support his tennis career. As a child, the Serbian star remembered his father telling his family of five that they only had $10 left to their name – a lesson in perseverance that stayed with Novak.
“Go forward, no matter what happens, fall hard on your face, and then get up and keep going forward and fall again and then jump back again,” Djokovic said said. “And then you will win.”