American tennis star Jessica Pegula may not have won a Grand Slam yet, but her wealth sets her apart from her peers. The world No. 3 on Tuesday was left stunned at Wimbledon as she was knocked out of the competition in the very first round.

Pegula, who has a personal net worth of nearly £12million, has earned the tag of 'world's richest tennis player' in recent years due to her family's extraordinary wealth. The 31-year-old stands to inherit a portion of her dad Terry Pegula's staggering £5.6billion fortune. Terry, ranked as the 418th wealthiest person by Forbes, amassed his wealth through his ventures in the oil and gas industry. The billionaire also owns sporting giants Buffalo Bills (NFL) and Buffalo Sabres (NHL). Among the family's extravagant possessions are a £58m superyacht named Top Five II and a private jet, which Jessica also uses. But the world No. 3 doesn't keep those luxuries all to herself, having demonstrated her generosity when she allowed her fellow finalists to use her jet at Austin's ATX Open in March.

There, Pegula competed in the women's singles final on the Sunday, defeating fellow American McCartney Kessler 7-5 6-2. She, along with doubles finalists Kessler, Zhang Shuai, Yue Yuan and Anna Blinkova, then faced a gruelling 1,263-mile round trip to reach their next tournament in Indian Wells, California.

That would have involved a late-night transfer in Los Angeles or making long trips to airports in Dallas and Houston, which would have hindered their preparation for Wednesday's tournament start. Pegula could have left immediately after her singles match, but instead chose to wait for the doubles final's conclusion in Austin, where Yue and Blinkova beat Kessler and Shuai 3-6 6-1 10-4.

She flew all of the players straight from Texas to California so that they could all make it on time. Zhang expressed her gratitude to Pegula on Instagram, posting an image of the jet and captioning it: "She [Pegula] could have left right after her singles final, but she is such a selfless and generous girl.

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"This message is not to show I took the jet, [I] just wanted to appreciate and transfer the love," to which Pegula replied: "You're too cute." Russian Blinkova and China's Yue shared Zhang's story on Instagram and also thanked Pegula, with the former writing: "Thank you Jessie for your kindness and generosity."

Unfortunately for all five tennis players, including Pegula, their singles campaigns at Wimbledon ended in disappointment this week as they were each knocked out in the very first round. Pegula unexpectedly crashed out in the opening round against world No. 116 Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

The No. 3 seed lost 6-2, 6-3 in just 58 minutes, marking her first early exit since the 2020 French Open. Pegula, a former quarter-finalist at SW19 and one of the favourites for the title, seemed to be hampered by a knee injury, which was clear from the supportive tape she wore.