Jessica Pegula has become frequent train rider on way to tennis matches.
Jessica Pegula, who has become the “train girl’’ of the WTA Tour, is contemplating taking the Brightline to the exhibition match at the Miami Marlins ballpark.
On Monday night, Dec. 8th, Pegula, who has lived in Boca Raton since she was 13, will face Amanda Ansimova in a tennis exhibition at LoanDepot Park.
It is the first match of the Miami Invitational before world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz faces Brazil’s Joao Fonseca. Tickets are on sale at Marlins.com/tennis for the first tennis match played inside an MLB stadium since 1973 when Bobby Riggs faced Billie Jean King at the Astrodome.
Pegula, who finished 2025 ranked 6th, created swarms of good vibes by braving the New York City subway to the U.S Open the past two years, including one trip Adidas filmed. At this year’s French Open, Pegula was a passenger on the Paris underground to Roland Garros last spring.
There is a Brightline Boca Raton stop.
“I’m thinking about taking the Brightline down to the Marlins Field,’’ Pegula told The Palm Beach Post this week. “It’s a lot easier than me driving at the time I have to go down there. I’d like to take different trains to different tournaments.’’
Considering her parents, Terry and Kim Pegula, own the Buffalo Bills and Sabres, it is an ironic pursuit.
“I love taking trains,’’ said Pegula, who made the semifinals of the U.S. Open and season-ending WTA Finals last month. “It’s so much less stressful than driving 95. Oh my God. It’s a lot easier. People make fun of me but it’s way less stressful.’’
This is tennis’ short offseason, which began after the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia, in early November. After vacationing in the Bahamas and spending time in Buffalo, Pegula returned home to Boca last week to start training for these two exhibitions (she first faces Ansimova Sunday at Newark’s Prudential Center).
Though no tour points are at stake, Pegula is aiming to beat the Adventura resident who made the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals in a breakthrough. Ansimova jumped from 36 to finishing 2025 at 4.
A late bloomer, Pegula, 31, made her breakthrough in 2022 when she finished ranked No. 3.
“We’re all competitors,” Pegula said. “Even if you think you’re going to have more fun, at end of the day, you’re still playing pretty hard. The difference is the pressure isn’t there. It’s a less stressful situation. It’s more fun. You get to showcase what you’re working on, have fun with the crowd, do something more entertaining or exciting instead of sticking to a strategy.
You have a lot more freedom. But we want to put on good tennis so you have to be trying 100 percent to put on a good show.’’
Pegula has attended one Marlins game as she’s become a New York Yankees fan since marrying her Yankees-crazed husband, Taylor. Pegula wore Yankees gear at the U.S. Open.
“We go to a lot of games when we’re in (New York),’’ Pegula said. “(My husband) has been a fan since he was a kid. My father is a Tigers fan so he’s not too happy that I switched to the Yankees.
“It was one of the reasons I wanted to play when asked. It was real fun to play MSG last year. It’s neat to play in places you haven’t played before and it’s super close to home for me and it’s a baseball field and never been done before (in a current MLB stadium). It will be cool to be the first players to do that. I love going to baseball games.’’
