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Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula have something else to attend to before they face each other in the fourth round of the Australian Open – recording an episode of their podcast together.
The American pair were straight-set winners in their respective third-round matches on Saturday.
Defending champion Keys and former US Open runner-up Pegula, along with fellow American players Jennifer Brady and Desirae Krawczyk, co-host The Player’s Box podcast.
Sixth seed Pegula, who defeated Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-3 6-2, joked: “We’ll see what kind of segments we can come up with, it could be a trash talk segment before we play.
“It’s funny but we’re so used to playing and being around each other, it’s not that big of a deal.”
Keys said the two have already floated the idea of potential forfeits for the player who loses Monday’s match.
“We’re filming tomorrow [Sunday] and she [Pegula] said she wants to have [it so] whoever loses, the other person can come up with something,” said the ninth seed, 30, after her 6-3 6-3 win over Czech player Karolina Pliskova.
“She wants to make me eat her disgusting apple pie with cheese on top of it if I lose, which I said I refuse, so she’s going to have to think of something else.
“We’re both going to try to think of something to kind of commemorate this moment. Hopefully we have more times where we meet later in tournaments.
“We can see how this one goes, hopefully be able to capitalise on it and then see how we want to do it in the future as well.”
Playing a friend will be nothing new for Pegula at this tournament – in the second round, the 31-year-old defeated McCartney Kessler – who she partnered in the women’s doubles in Melbourne.
Whatever the outcome of their last-16 meeting, Keys does not believe it will have a negative effect on their friendship.
“We could literally be friends and laughing until the moment we walk on the court, and then in that moment, we both want to win and we both are competitors. We’re going to do whatever we can to get the ‘W’.
“The moment it’s over, you’re back to being friends.
“I think it’s one of those things that I actually really love about tennis, because it’s taught a lot of us how to manage our friendships and relationships and be able to genuinely love each other, and be close and all of that, but also still be really competitive.”
Fourth seed Amanda Anisimova – runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2025 – was a 6-4 6-1 winner against fellow American Peyton Stearns and could be a potential quarter-final opponent for either Keys or Pegula.
