Tennis player Jessica Pegula has Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on her mind at the Australian Open — and his No. 3 on her outfit.
Pegula, whose parents own the NFL’s Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, is wearing a white screen-printed patch with Hamlin’s uniform number on her black skirt while she competes at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.
Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the field when he collapsed after making a tackle during a game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2. He spent more than a week in the hospital, part of that time in critical condition, before being able to go home. “I definitely wanted to do something,” Pegula said Wednesday after reaching the third round at Melbourne Park with a 6-2, 7-6 victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters“We were kind of figuring out what the Bills and the Sabres were doing, just as far as what was the message. I knew they would probably do something and what message were they trying to send.
“I just thought it would be cool to put on my outfit here. I thought it would be a fun way to kind of connect with the team and then also just show my support,” she said. “I felt like it was such a global event.” Pegula reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open each of the past two years, equaling her best result at any Grand Slam tournament.Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
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