American tennis star Jessica Pegula has admitted that she won’t be playing at 35, meaning she may already be in the twilight of her career.

Pegula, 31, has won three singles titles this year and reached a Grand Slam final for the first time in 2024. The American has earned over $18 million in prize money and has enjoyed the 2025 season after admitting to feeling burnt out last year, but has accepted that she doesn’t have long left in tennis.

Despite three titles this year, Pegula suffered a disappointing first-round exit at Wimbledon and has struggled in Montreal and Cincinnati ahead of the U.S. Open. As the 2025 season draws to a close, Pegula has admitted that she analyzes her future “year-to-year” but has no plans to continue playing past 35.

In an interview on the ‘Tennis Insider Club‘ podcast, Pegula revealed that her career could be over by the end of 2028. “So I think this year I feel really good,” Pegula said. “I honestly feel like it’s a year-to-year thing.

“I don’t think you can get ahead of yourself. It’s like, ‘Do I feel healthy? Do I feel good this year? Do I feel I can still compete at a high level?’ Then yeah, I will keep playing.

“I’ll definitely not be playing at 35. Definitely not. I think that’s where I for sure have to stop. I think it would be cool to try and make the Olympics cause it’s in LA in a couple years. … I’m counting it, technically, like two years because then you qualify, so I’ll probably have an idea by then if I’m in or not.”

With the Olympics coming to the United States in 2028, Pegula could be one of the major contenders alongside Coco Gauff to earn a gold medal on American soil. Pegula told Gauff about the uncertainty surrounding her long-term future, but was told to keep playing until the Los Angeles Games.

“I think I was talking to Coco, and she was like, ‘You can play until LA.'” Pegula added. “She was mad at me because I was like maybe a couple more years, and she was like, ‘If you’re going to play two more years, you might as well play another year for the LA Olympics.’

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“She was like, ‘You can’t retire before then!’ This was like a year before, and I was like four years, that’s a long time. I will be 34. What are you talking about?

“She was like, ‘You can just stay top 20, with the way you hit the ball, you will be fine. I am not letting you retire before the LA Olympics, especially if I’m qualified!’

“I was like, ‘You won’t even be 25 yet, you still can’t rent a car! And I think if you want to have kids, you can’t wait that long.’ I definitely don’t want to have kids and then come back.

“I think when I have a kid, I’m done. I admire the women that do that, but that is just not [for me].”