Tennis star Jessica Pegula, daughter of Buffalo Bills billionaire owners Terry and Kim Pegula, competes in her first-ever Grand Slam final at the US Open Tennis Championship on Saturday, September 7. Pegula defeated Iga Swiatek, the world’s No. 1 player, in the quarterfinals, and Karolina Muchova in the semifinals to reach the final.
While Pegula takes on Aryna Sabalenka, the world’s No. 2 ranked player, at Arthur Ashe Stadium, her No. 1 fan, husband Taylor Gahagen, will be cheering her on. While Gahagen and Pegula keep their relationship incredibly private, he’s at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center watching his wife compete.
Pegula, who’s ranked No. 6 in the world, previously went 0-6 in the quarterfinals. While she struggled early on against Muchova in the semis, Pegula rebounded, going 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to clinch her first major final.
“I came out flat… She made me look like a beginner (in the first set),” Pegula said during her on-court interview. I was about to burst into tears because it was embarrassing. She was destroying me.”
While the 30-year-old “didn’t know how” she “turned that around,” she got emotional when asked about the support of her family at the tournament. “It’s amazing. I have my brother there, my sister there. My dad, my brother-in-law, lots of friends, lots of family all scattered around. Obviously, my husband. He’s not even standing up. He doesn’t want to be seen.”
GettyJessica Pegula’s husband Taylor Gahagen smiles at the US Open tennis tournament in New York City, on September 5, 2024.
Gahagen tried to stay incognito in a Yankees cap, but he was clearly blushing at his wife’s shoutout. Wiping away tears, “I have so much family here. And they’ve been here watching a lot of my matches. So, to still be here, and to have them still here supporting me is crazy. I’m glad that they’re able to share this moment with me.”
Jessica Pegula & Husband Taylor Gahagen Married in 2021
Gahagen and Pegula, first linked as a couple in 2015, married at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina in October 2021. During an interview with the Tennis.com Podcast that year, she shared a rare anecdote about their relationship. Like much of the world’s plan during the height of COVID-19, the couple delayed their nuptial.
“We were supposed to get married in October last year,” she said. “We postponed it a year… It’s fine. It worked out!”
Speaking with the Women’s Tennis Association in 2023, Pegula revealed the couple traveled to Costa Rica for their honeymoon.
“We went to Costa Rica, my husband and I, after Wimbledon, and it was so much fun. It was amazing,” she said. “We want to go back so bad because it was just the best experience with people, the food, the lifestyle, was so much fun.
“But I am very adventurous, so I was actually waterfall rappelling down like a massive waterfall, which I don’t know if that was the smartest thing to do at the time. But my husband is not adventurous at all, so he didn’t even go. So, I went by myself on our kind of vacation together.”
Pegula revealed that she also went zip-lining solo. “But he did wait for me with the tour guides,” she noted.
Tyler Gahagen Used to Work for Jessica’s Pegula Family, Which Is Worth $7.7 Billion
According to Gahagen’s LinkedIn profile, the New York native graduated from State University at Fredonia with a bachelor of science in business administration before earning his MBA at Canisius University, located in Buffalo.
Gahagen started working at Pegula Sports and Entertainment in 2013, which the tennis star’s family owns and is worth $7.7 billion, according to Forbes. Speaking to WKBW TV in 2016, “I don’t think there’s anywhere else I would want to work,” Gahagen said of Pegula’s company, which also owns the Buffalo Sabres.
“It’s so exciting. I think everybody’s talked about the opportunity in the area and the opportunity for Buffalo and the pride of Buffalo is bar none. Raising the profile of Buffalo on a national, international, global scale is what’s most exciting.”
Following a major shakeup at Pegula Sports and Entertainment in 2023, Gahagen left the company. He now works as a managing partner at Agarwood Wealth and Dragos Capital, per his LinkedIn profile.
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Jessica Pegula’s Husband ‘Doesn’t Want to Be Seen’ at US Open