Francis Tijafo's career started from the office his father got because he was one of the workers on the construction of the tennis center, while the life of his compatriot and another beautiful story of this year's US Open, Jesika Pegula, is the complete opposite.
The girl from Buffalo ended up in tennis out of pure love, because money could not play an important role for her. The reason is simple - her parents Teri and Kim are considered one of the richest families in the United States of America.
Their wealth is estimated at 7,7 billion dollars, and the Pegula family, apart from Jessica, is very well known to sports fans as the family that owns the NFL and NHL clubs Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres.
Jessica turned 30 in February, she has been at the top for a long time, but she has also been trying to write a memorable story at the Grand Slams...
Thus, until this summer, she even reached the quarterfinals five times at the four biggest tournaments (three Australian Open and one each at Roland Garros and Wimbledon), but she never managed to jump that step.
Until this September, when she did it against the best in the world, Iga Sfjontek. She didn't stop there, and through Karolina Muhova, she "flew away" to the grand final in her home city of New York.
Apart from the fact that these days there is talk about the best tennis in her life, the inevitable questions also come about her family...
"It's a little embarrassing that people think I have a butler, a limousine with a personal driver and only fly on private jets... I'm definitely not like that," Jessica said.
Now Pegula has a new dream - to "hug" the first Grand Slam cup in front of her fans, even though on the other side of the net she will have the great champion Arina Sabaljenko.
Bonus video:
