Jessica Pegula laments ill-timed doping test amid her & husband Taylor's 'disaster' emergency with their sick dog

Jessica Pegula has opened up about her inconvenient experience with a doping official. The American and her husband Taylor Gahagen were already navigating an emotionally taxing day with their sick dog when their morning was interrupted by the unexpected visit.

While speaking to Madison Keys, Jennifer Brady and Desirae Krawczyk on 'The Player's Box' podcast, Pegula recounted her "wild" day with her beloved pet Maddie. The World No. 6 revealed that Maddie underwent surgery to get one eye removed after losing her vision due to glaucoma.

Jessica Pegula shared how heartbreaking she found it to see her pet's eye sewn shut when her husband Taylor sent her a picture after the procedure.

"I had a wild last 18 hours. No, it's like really It's like not great. It's a little sad, but it's okay. It ended okay. Maddie, my dog, had this eye thing going on the last couple days. So, last night her eye was really bad. She was in a lot of pain. Took her to the emergency vet. She has like glaucoma. Basically went blind in her eye. Literally had surgery today," Jessica Pegula said.

"Her eye is, they removed her eye. Her eyeball is gone. Like, yes, I didn't even tell you guys this because, well, one, I wanted to make sure she was okay. She's fine. Taylor's on the way home with her now. Like, all good. But she literally, it's not funny, but like they took out her eye. Yes. It's just like sewn shut and like shaved. He just sent me a picture. I'm like, 'Oh my god, my poor girl,'" she added.

The 31-year-old also recounted their frantic struggle to locate the eye drops their dog urgently needed in the middle of the night, describing the situation as a "disaster."

"Last night though, part of the unforced error was that I guess when you have glaucoma, like the pressure builds in your eye and you need these eye drops that like immediately help drop the pressure. So they didn't have any of those. Called another place, they didn't have any. Called another hospital, didn't have any. It's like 2 a.m. at this point. I was like, 'This is a disaster. I don't know what's going to happen to her eye.' Blah blah blah. They finally found some. They had to send somebody to drive, go get it. finally got the eye drops," she said.

Pegula said that she didn't go to bed until 4:00 am after returning home from the emergency vet, only to be woken up three hours later by a doping official's surprise visit. The American lamented that anti-doping tests always seemed to take place at the most inconvenient times.

"I got home. I probably went to bed at like 4:00 a.m. 7 a.m. doping comes. Like, you're joking, right?" Pegula said. "Does doping ever come when you have like a normal night sleep? Like, it never it never happens to me. They always come when I'm like out late, I get back from a late flight, emergency situation, whatever."

"So, 7 a.m. doping comes. By 8:00 a.m. though, I was driving her to the eye specialist. By like 10:30, they tried to fix the eye and they're like, "Here are your options. You can either remove it or do this, whatever." Ended up on removing the eye," she added.

Jessica Pegula recently also shared that she and her husband had welcomed a new family member, introducing their adorable puppy Mabel on the podcast.

Jessica Pegula penned an emotional message after she and husband Taylor lost their pet dog

Jessica Pegula - Source: Getty

Jessica Pegula has often shown her love for her pet dogs on social media and spoken about their impact on her life. In 2023, the American penned a heartfelt message for her German Shepherd Dexter after his unexpected death.

Pegula and husband Taylor Gahagen suffered another loss earlier this year when their pet dog Tucker passed away while the World No. 6 was competing in Europe. The 31-year-old shared her devastation about Tucker's passing in a candid Instagram post.

"Unfortunately on Tuesday we lost Tucker in just under a few hours - out of nowhere. My heart is filled with so much sadness. I didn’t even want to post this but everyone knows how my dogs are a huge part of my life. If someone were to ask me how the pups were doing back home I’d burst into tears. We love you and miss you so much. Not even 2 years since we lost Dex. I hope you’re with your favorite brother in doggie heaven. 🤍 🕊️," Jessica Pegula captioned her Instagram post.

Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Belinda Bencic, Sloane Stephens and several other tennis players showed their support for Jessica Pegula with consolatory messages during the difficult time.