A WTA hot mic caught Jessica Pegula calling Mirra Andreeva a “diva” at Indian Wells. The tour apologized, and Andreeva had a comeback of her own.
Jessica Pegula thought she was talking to her coach. Anyone watching the WTA’s YouTube livestream on Wednesday could hear her, too. During practice at Indian Wells, a courtside microphone picked up the American calling French Open champion Mirra Andreeva “a diva” and saying the 19-year-old “needs to be humbled.” The WTA took the replay down. Viewers already had the clip.
Pegula was talking tennis with her coach, Mark Knowles, and had a specific complaint. She described a player winning four straight games and still getting angry with her own coach. Pegula thought Andreeva’s coach, former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez, encouraged that behavior. She also called Andreeva smart and spoke highly of her game, even suggesting she could be better than Coco Gauff if she had Gauff’s mentality.
The WTA wanted the sound of a ball hitting a racket
On Friday, WTA chair Valerie Camillo explained what the microphones were doing there. The tour wanted fans watching practice to hear the ball coming off the strings. Players and coaches got no clear warning that the equipment was live, and nobody monitoring the feed caught the conversation in time to keep it off the air.
Camillo apologized to Pegula and Knowles and confirmed that the WTA had switched off audio recording on the practice courts for the rest of the tournament. Pegula’s representative said she had contacted the people involved to apologize. Pegula herself said on Friday that she hoped the episode would help players push for more privacy.
Andreeva found a use for the word that started it all. Among the pictures she shared on Instagram from the WTA Finals photo shoot was one of her posing with Pegula. Across it, Andreeva wrote “DIVAS.” Pegula replied, “Divas in Chanel.”