FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) —
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were born a decade apart, which does not matter so much when it comes to playing tennis together but definitely creates a barrier when the subject is TikTok.
“We don’t really notice the age difference until certain conversations come up,”
Gauff said. “It’s definitely a generation divide.”
Joked Pegula: “She keeps me young.”
The 28-year-old Pegula is No. 3 in the singles rankings,
the 18-year-old Gauff is No. 4, and the two Americans are making their
WTA Finals debuts in both singles and doubles this week. No other doubles pairing also has participated in the singles competition at the season-ending tournament for the best of the best in women’s tennis since sisters Serena and Venus Williams managed to do that in 2009 (Serena beat Venus in the singles final that year).
Pegula, who is from New York and now based in Florida, was set for a full day of work as the event began on the temporary indoor hard court at Dickies Arena on Monday. She was scheduled to go up against Maria Sakkari in round-robin play in singles in the afternoon, before joining Gauff, a Floridian, to take on the Chinese duo of Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan in doubles at night to close out Day 1.