Madison Keys walked into her press conference at the National Bank Open in Toronto this week after getting the first-round win in her bag, only to find the nameplate in front of her that read “Jessica Pegula” instead of her own name. Rather than just letting it go, she turned the situation into a hilarious moment. 

“Should I leave this up and confuse people? I mean, people call me Jess nine times out of ten anyways,” Keys said while laughing.

The mix-up came after Keys advanced to the third round in Toronto with a commanding 6-1, 6-2 win over Antonia Ruzic, setting up a round of 32 clash with 10th seed Marta Kostyuk. Meanwhile, Pegula fought through her own second-round match, winning it in three sets against Magdalena Frech, and will now face Kamilla Rakhimova in the third round. 

Both matches were scheduled for the same day, adding an extra layer of chaos to why the sign mix-up may have happened in the first place. They will be playing matches on the same day simultaneously, but this time the organizers will surely be much more careful in changing the name tags.

The mix-up moment aligns well with a trend between the two that has developed over the years, as they have grown to be close friends off the court. Pegula and Keys co-host ‘The Player’s Box Podcast’ with fellow WTA players Jennifer Brady and Desirae Krawczyk, a podcast that is almost entirely made up of exactly this sort of unfiltered banter between tour mates. The four have said that the podcast started in their own group chat: there were a lot of funny things happening at the tournaments, and eventually they just decided to start sharing it publicly. 

Keys and Pegula’s friendship goes beyond the tour

This is far from the first time the pair have found themselves at the center of a lighthearted mix-up or fan-fuelled joke. Earlier this year, when Pegula withdrew from the ATX Open in Austin after winning in Dubai, fans speculated online that Keys, who had been bumped from the same 250-level draw due to tour rules limiting top-10 entries, must have been furious about missing out as a result. 

The two players sat on their podcast and joked about the “clickbait-y headline” situation and laughed over the whole thing. During the Italian Open, the group’s friendship played out publicly again when Pegula filmed a chaotic, entertaining video of fellow American players rating gelato during a night out in Rome, a moment Coco Gauff later jokingly needled Pegula about, claiming the group’s wealthiest member hadn’t actually paid for anyone’s dessert.

Jessica Pegula was among the group of WTA players who attended Keys’s wedding to Bjorn Fratangelo in Charleston, sharing behind-the-scenes photos and videos from the celebrations, including footage of the group dancing together at the reception. On court, they have already shared the field twice this year, with both of those matches won by the world No. 3. 

Overall, the head-to-head stands at 3-2, with Pegula leading. The most iconic match came in 2023 at their home slam in the quarterfinals, where Keys dismantled her friend in straight sets. Keys even acknowledged that it felt strange to her facing a close friend across the net, as that was just the second meeting between them. 

For now, both Americans are placed on opposite halves of the singles draw in Toronto. Madison Keys is grouped with players like Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Coco Gauff in the top half, while Pegula is anchoring the bottom half. That means the only way they could meet each other this week is if they both reach the finals of the tournament. It seems unlikely considering the scenario, but it would be fitting irony to the mix-up.