(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Jessica Pegula revealed she got food poisoning shortly after arriving in Paris and said she was “a zombie for two days.” Last Tuesday, Pegula arrived in the French capital for the French Open and went to a restaurant. “I don’t know exactly what did the damage.
I had escargots – I love escargots – but everyone else in my group had them. I also had salmon so maybe it was a bad piece of fish. I was throwing up for the whole night and I couldn’t sleep much. That was after I arrived in Paris on Tuesday, I didn’t practise on Wednesday, I practised on Thursday – but it was not pretty.
I could barely do anything. I was getting a lot of nausea and acid reflux, I wasn’t eating. I was afraid to eat anything. I didn’t have an appetite. It lingered for four or five days but I wasn’t able to just sit in bed, I had a bunch of stuff to do,”
Pegula wrote in a column for the BBC.
Pegula explains to the BBC how she overcame the challenging situation
“I was a zombie for two days,” Pegula added. Pegula’s French Open first-round match against fellow American Danielle Collins was scheduled for Sunday.
Going into the match, Pegula felt “horrible” and she was lacking practice. However, Pegula went out hoping for the best and she was able to clinch a 6-4 6-2 win over Collins. On Monday and Tuesday, Pegula had days off. On Wednesday, Pegula returned to the court as she won the first set against Camila Giorgi 6-2 before the Italian retired their match.
On Thursday, Pegula said she was “feeling a lot better and ready to go.” But then the following day, Pegula suffered a 6-1 6-3 loss to Elise Mertens in the French Open third round. Last year, Pegula reached her first French Open quarterfinal before losing to Iga Swiatek.
Considering how Pegula’s 2023 French Open campaign started, even making the third round was something. Pegula will now take some time off and prepare for the grass season.
