WTA apologizes after hot mic caught Jessica Pegula calling Mirra Andreeva a 'diva' during practice s

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The WTA reportedly apologized Thursday for failing to adequately communicate to players and coaches that practice sessions at Indian Wells were being recorded by microphones , according to The Athletic.

The organization was forced to issue a statement after a hot mic picked up Jessica Pegula referring to Mirra Andreeva as a "diva" during what Pegula and one of her coaches, Mark Knowles, believed to be a private conversion.

During the practice, which was being livestreamed to fans, Pegula also said she "lost respect" for one of Andreeva's coaches for allowing the Russian player to act out on the court.

In its statement, the WTA apologized for "failing to meet our responsibility to ensure players and coaches were properly informed," per The Athletic.

A representative for Pegula told The Athletic that the tennis star "had absolutely no idea that her conversation with Mark was being livestreamed and certainly never expected a private discussion during practice to be made public."

In addition to those comments, Pegula also compared Andreeva to Coco Gauff, saying Andreeva could surpass Gauff as a player if Andreeva adopted Gauff's "mentality," per The Athletic.

Knowles agreed with that assessment.

"It's so funny how you see her and then you see Coco's mentality. If she had Coco's mentality, she'd be better than her," Pegula said.

"Oh, definitely," Knowles replied.

Those comments came after a practice session in which Pegula squared off against Andreeva. The Russian took four straight games from Pegula during the session, per The Athletic, though also got annoyed and starting hitting balls toward her coach, Conchita Martínez, during the practice. That behavior irked Pegula after the session ended.

Following the incident, the WTA removed all practice videos filmed at the event before Thursday from its YouTube page. Future practice sessions, however, were still scheduled to be livestreamed on WTA's YouTube page.

When a practice session featuring Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova went live Thursday following the WTA's apology, it did so without audio.