All was well for the United States on Friday in Sydney, where the team cruised to a 2-0 lead in the United Cup semifinals against Poland.
It was impossible to tell there was a controversy -- of sorts -- within the group Thursday.
“We did another escape room,” Jessica Pegula said after her upset of Iga Swiatek. “We did boys versus girls and girls won, so go girls. But it was really fun. We’ve done a couple of them, and I’m not sure, it was kind of like an anti-team building experience because we kind of all wanted to kill each other at the end, but hopefully it brings us together today.
“[The] guys are so salty they lost. It's like, It's real.”
Frances Tiafoe, also a straight-sets winner Friday, responded:
“It's just been great team energy,” he said. “Jess hurt our team-building yesterday after that. Both the guys and girls getting pretty heated there at the end. No, I mean, it was great to do stuff like that, and obviously Jess is our captain, making us do team outings like that.”
Tiafoe then got down to business. He said Pegula’s straightforward win against Swiatek inspired him.
Super happy for her,” Tiafoe said. “The reason why she won, I sent a great text to her last night before she went to sleep, and I think that really motivated her. And obviously our warmups. I think I'm going to be on her team after this week.”
Tiafoe joked that the Australian Open will be his last event, because from then on he will be following Pegula around. Although he was kidding, the American wants to train with the WTA World No. 3 more often.
Pegula pulled out her phone to recall the text message Tiafoe sent her Thursday evening.
“Hey, Jess, go believe it tomorrow,” Tiafoe wrote. “I'd back you against anyone in the world. Let's do the damn thing. All love.”
“I was, like, ‘Are we warming up tomorrow, blah, blah, blah?’ All right. 12:50 walk on,” Pegula said before adding Tiafoe’s response. “We gonna hit.”
The U.S. might have thought its team-building exercise had an adverse effect. But it is clear the Americans’ chemistry is strong as ever. They need just one match-win Saturday to reach the championship match at the United Cup.
