WTA Chair Apologises to Pegula After Private 'Diva' Remark Is Caught on Hot Mic

Jessica Pegula thought she was having a private word with her coach. She was, in fact, talking to the internet. During a practice session on Wednesday at Indian Wells, Pegula was chatting with coach Mark Knowles when microphones placed on the court picked up their conversation and carried it onto a WTA YouTube livestream. Pegula was heard calling 19-year-old French Open champion Mirra Andreeva a "diva", saying she "needs to be humbled", and suggesting that Andreeva's coach, former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, encourages her behaviour. The microphones were supposed to capture only ambient sound — the thud of tennis balls, the scrape of shoes — as part of the WTA's attempt to bring fans closer to the players during practice. The problem was that nobody told the players they were live. WTA chair Valerie Camillo admitted as much on Friday, blaming "several breakdowns in our execution" and a "lack of advanced notice and clear signage" around the recording equipment. Camillo did not hedge. "I want to specifically apologise to Jessica Pegula and Mark Knowles," she said. "What happened was regrettable and unacceptable. Jess is one of the WTA's best advocates and biggest stars. She does not deserve this distraction." Pegula, for her part, handled it the way she handles most things — with a joke. Walking into her pre-tournament media session on Friday, minutes after Camillo had spoken, she grabbed the microphone, tapped it playfully, and defused the room before the questions even started. Her spokesperson has said Pegula has since apologised to the other players involved. The WTA has moved quickly to close the hole. All audio recording equipment has been removed from the practice areas at Indian Wells, and while practice livestreams will continue for fans, they will now run without sound. The YouTube streams of Wednesday's practice sessions have been taken down, though clips had already spread across social media before that happened. It is an awkward start to what should be a landmark week for the women's game. The WTA Finals begin on Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the first time the season-ending championship has been staged in the United States since 2009, with the world's top eight players competing for a share of a $10 million prize purse. Pegula opens her round-robin campaign against Coco Gauff. The build-up has already been bumpy — the WTA also replaced the traditional group photograph of the eight qualifiers with individual portraits this week — but the hot-mic episode is the one that will linger. Players expect their practice courts to be private. This week, one of them found out the hard way that they were not.