Daria Saville spots Jessica Pegula's name in French Open qualies entries: "Made me giggle"

FLASHBACK: Daria Saville took fans behind the scenes of her week in Tokyo, vlogging around the Japanese capital as she prepared to play the WTA 500 event.

Daria Saville may have been sidelined from the WTA Tour for the past seven months nursing a knee injury, but the Aussie is never too far from the game—and no detail escapes her keen eye.

The 29-year-old has stayed plugged into all the twists and turns of the tennis calendar, from live-Tweeting during big finals to even dropping by the Australian Open for a visit with her adorable dachshund Tofu in tow.

Saville recently spotted one interesting twist when she reviewed the Roland Garros entry lists: Jessica Pegula, the top-ranked American and No. 3 player in the world, appears to have signed up to play qualies.

“Just had a look at Roland Garros entries and [Jessica Pegula] is entered in qualies (just in case lol). Made me giggle,” Saville wrote on Twitter.

Pegula, who was tagged in the tweet, quickly jumped into the replies to clarify that she actually intends to play the main draw—she’s just a bit superstitious: “I used to do this for obvious reasons and sometimes still do just out of superstition and [you] never know.”

Superstition or not, it’s also a smart scheduling move for a player who seems to be very aware of where her ranking points lie. Pegula rocketed up the WTA rankings last year—from outside the Top 20 to a career-high world No. 3—propelled in part due to a run to the Mutua Madrid Open final. But between her red-hot start to 2023, and with Roland Garros entries closing six weeks before the start of the tournament, it’s safe to say the American has clinched her main draw spot in Paris.

While Pegula hedges her bets, Saville has even more to smile about after posting a practice-court TikTok showing off her recovery progress:

The Aussie has struggled with injuries throughout her career, including an ACL tear in 2013 and a torn Achilles tendon in 2019. Last year, she suffered another grueling setback as she ruptured her ACL for the second time while jumping to hit a forehand against Naomi Osaka in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

She hasn’t set a date yet for her latest comeback, though Saville told users “I'm not far off” from a return to the tour.

Considering that she is currently training on clay and looking at Roland Garros qualies entries, that return may just come sooner than we think.