Australian Open match featured a player’s bet about the Chiefs and Taylor Swift
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- Pegula defeated Keys 6-3, 6-4 and referenced a public wager over a Chiefs jersey
- Bet grew from Pegula family tradition of cheese on pie and playful stakes
- Pegula said she would have worn a Kelce/Taylor Swift Chiefs jersey if she lost
Madison Keys’ hopes of winning a second straight women’s title at the Australian Open were dashed Monday by her friend and podcast co-host Jessica Pegula.
After winning 6-3, 6-4, Pegula wrote a special message on a courtside television camera: “No Chiefs jersey today.”
It may seem like an odd time to mention the Chiefs, but Pegula’s parents own the Buffalo Bills, and she had made an unusual bet with Keys.
It began with an odd Pegula family tradition. They like to put a slice of cheddar cheese on a piece of apple pie and then microwave it. Keys, like many people, thought that sounded awful.
“Cheese on apple pie is pretty brutal,” Keys said on their Players Box podcast.
But Keys will be trying it after making that friendly bet with Pegula. Had Keys won, Pegula would have had to don a special Chiefs jersey.
“My family owns the Buffalo Bills,” Pegula said. “They’ve owned it, and I have to sit there and wear this. And then there’s going to be pictures, and then people are gonna be like, ‘Jess clearly lost a bet,’ and I’m gonna have to suffer. Mine is definitely worse.”
The Chiefs have knocked the Bills out of the playoffs four times in the past six years, and Keys was clearly aware of her friend’s hard feelings for Kansas City.
“When you came after me for the apple pie, I was like, ‘What’s the worst thing that I could possibly think for Jess for retaliation?’” Keys admitted.
After the match, Pegula wrote her message on the lens of the TV camera and then admitted in an on-court interview that the bet gave her extra incentive. Oh, and Pegula wasn’t going to wear a random Chiefs jersey.
It would have had the names of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift on the back. In the interview, Pegula got a tepid response when talking about the cheesy apple pie.
But there were cheers when Swift and Kelce were mentioned.
“She wanted me to wear a Kelce/Taylor Swift Chiefs jersey,” she said. “So you know, honestly, had a lot of motivation today not to wear that.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 8:31 AM with the headline "Australian Open match featured a player’s bet about the Chiefs and Taylor Swift."
