WTA takes 'full responsibility' after hot mic broadcasts Pegula remarks
Seven Lights
The Women’s Tennis Association apologized Thursday for live-streaming a private conversation in which Jessica Pegula criticized Mirra Andreeva, saying the tour “takes full responsibility” for failing to inform players that microphones on the practice courts at the WTA Finals were broadcasting.
The exchange was captured Wednesday at Indian Wells, California, where the season-ending finals begin Sunday for the first time. Pegula, the world number five, was mic’d up during a practice session and spoke to her coach, Mark Knowles, about the 19-year-old Andreeva. She called Andreeva “a diva” and said she “needs to be humbled.” Pegula also said she had lost some respect for Andreeva’s coach, former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, for not checking the younger player’s behavior, and remarked that Andreeva would rank above Coco Gauff with the same mentality.
A representative for Pegula’s agent said she had been “completely unaware” the conversation could be heard by courtside microphones, “let alone live-streamed to the public.” The WTA said the microphones were intended to capture the ambient sounds of rallies for a fan livestream, and acknowledged it had failed to put the appropriate safeguards in place. The tour removed the YouTube streams of Wednesday’s practice sessions, but the audio had already spread across social media. Practice broadcasts will continue without audio.
The tour said it had been in direct contact with the players and coaches involved. Pegula, a member of the WTA players’ council, also praised Andreeva in the same conversation, calling her “wonderful” and “smart.” Andreeva, who won the French Open in June, began working with Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion, in April 2024.
A second session was also broadcast, in which world number one Elena Rybakina appeared to argue with her coach, Stefano Vukov, before a practice match with Linda Noskova.
The incident follows a January dispute at the Australian Open over cameras in backstage areas, after Gauff was filmed smashing her racket in what she believed was a private space. Gauff called for greater privacy, and former world number one Iga Swiatek said players were being “treated like animals in a zoo.” Pegula and Andreeva were drawn in different groups at the finals, which run to Nov. 15, and cannot meet before the semi-finals.