Coco Gauff convinces Jessica Pegula to change career plans as star, 31, eyes retirement

Jessica Pegula has already made plans for her retirement, despite being just 31 years old. Tennis players' careers are getting longer and longer - Venus Williams recently made a winning return to competition at the age of 45, while 38-year-old Novak Djokovic is still in the world's top 10 and has reached the semi-finals of all three Grand Slam tournaments this year.

But Pegula doesn't want to follow in their footsteps and plans to retire in the next few years, setting something of a timeline to end her career. And Coco Gauff played a role in her decision, as the world No. 2 convinced her to extend her playing days a little longer than planned.

Appearing on the Tennis Insider Club podcast, hosted by fellow WTA star Caroline Garcia, Pegula admitted that her career could be over within the next four years. But there is one more tournament she hopes to play before hanging up her racket - the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

"I'll definitely not be playing at 35. Definitely not. I think that's where I for sure have to stop," the world No. 4 said.

"I think it would be cool to try and make the Olympics cause it's in LA in a couple years. ... I'm counting it, technically, like two years because then you qualify, so I'll probably have an idea by then if I'm in or not."

The idea to play until the next Olympics came from Pegula's former doubles partner Gauff. Together, they reached No. 1 in the doubles rankings, won several titles, and represented America at last year's Paris Olympics.

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And the 21-year-old doesn't want Pegula to quit until they make it to the LA Games. Pegula continued: "I was talking to Coco, and she was like, you can play until LA. She was mad at me because I was like, yeah, maybe a couple more years.

"She's like, if you're going to play two more years, you might as well just play another year for the LA Olympics. And she's like, you can't retire before then. This was the year before so it was four years. I was like, Coco, it's a long time, I'm going to be 34, what are you talking about?

"She's like, you can just stay top 20. The way you hit the ball, you'll be fine. She's like, I'm not letting you retire before the LA Olympics, especially if I qualify. I was like, okay. You're young, it's okay, you won't even be 25 yet, you still can't rent a car!"

Gauff seems to have twisted Pegula's arm, and the next Olympic Games in three years' time are on her radar. But there's another factor at play - the world No. 4 has decided that, whenever she chooses to have children, she doesn't want to return to competition.

"I think it's a different time because if you want to have kids and stuff like that, you can't wait that long. And I definitely don't want to have kids and come back," she explained.

"I think when I have a kid, I'm done. I admire the women that do that. That's just not, I think whenever I have a kid, I'm definitely done.

"So I wouldn't come back, so that's kind of why I say, okay, maybe at least a couple more years, two, three, we'll see. I think LA Olympics would be a cool motivation, a cool goal, but like, at 35, I definitely don't want to be playing past that."

For now, fans can continue to enjoy Pegula's tennis. The American suffered a disappointing defeat in the third round of the Cincinnati Open, but she'll be hoping to turn things around at her home Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, where she finished runner-up last year.