Love knows no boundaries, isn’t it? Ask the parents of Jessica Pegula, Kim, and Terry, who overcame several barriers to be hand-in-hand with each other. As Jessica Pegula plays the biggest match of her career later today at the US Open, she is in awe of her parents’ love story, which began 33 years back. The American star will face Aryna Sabalenka in the summit clash of the Grand Slam tournament in New York. As she shines bright on the court, let’s go through a glittering tale about her parents’ love life.
Back in 1991, Kim and Terry came face-to-face with each other at a restaurant. Interestingly, Kim and her college roommate had filled out an application form for employment at the Old Library Restaurant in Olean, New York. Earlier, they had planned to travel to Alaska to work in a fishing camp after they graduated from college, but fate had other plans.
Coincidently, Terry and several of his employees from East Resources were also present at the restaurant and they were having lunch when Kim and her roommate arrived. Kim and Terry came across each other and struck up a conversation while exchanging contact information. Their first meeting turned out to be a love at first sight for them and a few weeks later, they went on their first date.
Interestingly, on one of their dates, Terry mentioned about a job opening in his company. Talking about that incident, Kim revealed, “He said, ‘Hey, I can use somebody at East,’ but I think he made that up. He said, ‘I do investor relations and if you’ve got communication, if that’s your background, I don’t do that very well. I just know how to drill oil and gas wells, so maybe you can do that.’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll do that for now and wait to find out about the other job,’ and there came a point where I thought, ‘Hmm, maybe I don’t want the other job.’”
After a year of dating, Terry asked for the permission of Kim’s parents to marry her, and although there was initial hesitation from Kim’s family due to their 18-year age gap, it didn’t matter to Kim and the two went on to tie the knot.
Kim and Terry have been very supportive of the tennis career of their daughter, Jessica Pegula. The American star once revealed how her parents take on different roles to motivate her.
Jessica Pegula’s family is a big fan of sports. As a result, it was no surprise they motivated Pegula to make it big in her tennis career. But Terry and Kim played different roles. During an interview a few years ago, Pegula revealed, “Dad and I are like oil and water on the tennis court — it does not mix well. But he definitely always pushed me to do better. To work hard, always work hard, you can always outwork somebody, all that type of stuff. He’s very old school.”
Talking about her mother’s role, Pegula further added, “You were the more off-court, get healthy. Like the diet, the recovery, you know, the training and stuff like that.”
The American star will need every bit of that motivation when she faces Aryna Sabalenka later today, because the Belarusian is the firm favorite to win the final, despite Pegula having the backing of the home crowd. Can Jessica Pegula pull off an upset though? What do you think?
