Emma Navarro: A United States Open tennis player
finalist and a ranked among the ten best women tennis players in the world after only one full round at the company’s top competitions. She’s just preparing to take selfies, and media huddles, and attend a New York Knicks NBA basketball match with some other tennis players you may recognize — Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, and Jessica Pegula.
Highlights
It might be fun. On the other hand, lounging in this comfy chair and getting paid to spy on the bustle of her native city is pretty awesome, isn’t it? I have said many others before, but here are some reasons why Navarro, who will face Ons Jabeur in the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday, chose tennis. Fame was not one of them, as is evident when you listen to celebrities on the stand and see that they are just like everyone else.
The exact opposite,” she said the other day, after a second-round win in Melbourne over Wang Xiyu of China and which had been the same the previous time also; three-set fight with no certainty about victory or defeat until the last moment.
She was at it once again Saturday when she opened a packed Margaret Court Arena against Ons Jabeur, a three-time major finalist and adored figure of the sport returning from a hot streak of injuries. Winning 20 of the first 24 points, she was leading 5-0 in the first set and then had to struggle in the third to win there. She saved three break points when serving at 1-2.
After it was done, she attributed her parents for having taken her and her siblings on six-hour biking when they were young for her third-set performance. Then she wrote on the television camera “me heart 3 sets”. She should. Last year, she won 19 of 25 matches, with six matches going to the finals. On leaving the basketball, it wasn’t long before she moved into signing autographs to some fans perched over the stand. The match was played in the light and shadow of lunchtime in Melbourne, and Navarro is not yet fully into the final, the drama, or the act of being on center stage day after day.
“It is something that I do strive at, maintaining and coming to a point where being out there is not a big deal to me.” It is entirely anti me. I think it feels somewhat unnatural,” said the woman.
It can happen like that in tennis more often than one might imagine. Not everything grows at the same rate. Not every player who can hit the forehand and backhand on a wire for what seems like all of Sunday is the alpha-dog extrovert whose life is being played out across Instagram and TikTok.
so it is with Navarro, whose tennis life had been an exploration of incrementalism up until the summer of last year. Martinez was nervous about claiming she was going to be a professional tennis player even at 18 after a tremendous junior career that saw her reach the finals of the French Open’s singles competition and come out tops in the doubles event. That is why she studied at the University of Virginia for two years and became the winner of the NCAA nationwide college-level women’s singles title.
When she did go pro, she did not seek wild card entries, which could have been easily given to her given that her father, Ben, is in the tennis business and hosts the ATP and WTA 1000-level CIninnati Open. She managed as long as she had to fight her way up through second-tier events open to ITF ranking and WTA 125 events.
That is what stands out about Emma Navarro; she wants to hit one more ball, regardless of whether she wins or loses.
In April 2023, Navarro was ranked just outside the top 100 in the ATP rankings. She ended that year ranked number 32 in the world, the exact figure that wins a Grand Slam participant a seeding. One day before the 2024 Australian Open began, she won her first WTA tour title in Hobart, Tasmania.
She then danced her way to stardom. She was able to string victories over Coco Gauff of Wimbledon and the follow-up in the U.S. Open, where the young phenom Gauff was the defending champion, albeit with the two now being close friends. For the first time, she rose to the top 10 positions. And that when work picked up a little, it differed here, a little there, and was not such a problem.
Emma Navarro is learning how to exist in the world of tennis
Interview and appearance requests in the flood. The new endorsements that Buscombe has carved out for her are with Fila, Yonex, Red Bull, Dove, Fanatics, De Bethune, as well as Mejuri, the luxury jewelry brand that made her pose for a photo shoot in December in Charleston S. C. Navarro is the first athlete ambassador hired by the company.
For Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Naomi Osaka, our present rising star Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and today’s fresh name, Zheng Qinwen, something like that is just another day ending with a “Y.” For Navarro, though, it is, as she puts it, “an adjustment.”
The adjustment has a tennis guise, too, which might help explain Navarro’s first two matches here this month. They were both tennis escape rooms, the first on the Rod Laver Arena and then on the site’s second court, Margaret Court Arena.
In both matches, she was even behind a break of serve in the third set. Peyton Stearns, another former NCAA champion, had a match point against her in the second-set tiebreak that she didn’t convert. Stearns then served for the match in the third but could not push the game through.
In both scenarios, Navarro played in the first match of the day — thus guaranteeing a big audience back in the United States on ESPN in, say, the evening — a position in which Gauff often finds herself as much as the glamour of winning and deals, considerable court Risk and occupancy-prime time hours deliver a not so-subtle” signal of status.
In both matches, the usually consistent Navarro hit shoring balls from the mid-court that she had painted back for most of the preceding year, wearing down each successive rival. Then, she was able to combine her best moments from the afternoon into the few points that proved decisive not once but twice.
Against Jabeur, she dominated the first set and reached 5-0 before you’d see the sterner side of Jabeur, who was close to winning major events. She got back to 5-4. Navarro still took the set.
Throughout pretty much her whole tennis life, Navarro was the girl and then the woman who wanted to know when she arrived at a tournament that her match was going to be on Court 35, tucked away in the back of the place.
Can you remember the day we met? Like, try to put me in the forest.”
That’s not happening anymore.
“It takes whatever 20 years toiling, mostly unseen, at a particular job and then, poof! You’re entertainment for another person.” The masses come to watch you do what you do from the blues and pay for it. ‘Well absolutely it is an alteration.’
This is the eighth year that Navarro’s trainer, Peter Ayers, has been with her. He said that it is wise to stick to what got her there to transition Navarro to being a new version of herself during the off-season.
“The foundation we had has always been a very methodical,” Ayers said during an interview in Melbourne. “We want her to recover, and we also do not want her to be living off her earnings.” It’s always a balance.”
For Navarro, who will never be in the league of such players in the WTA tour, it means attempting to get big and hit big within those capabilities. She is not about to start firing lasers like some of her peers can point in or point out.
“I’m very leery of just chasing velocity,” said Ayers.
There are other ways.
Ayers is a baseball guy. In his own words, one of his favourite pitchers was Greg Maddux, the ace pitcher for the Atlanta Braves in the nineties. The fastball, and the movement that accompanied it, assured Maddux success even though he was far from the hardest thrower. “That’s a lot she can do with being more precise,” Ayers said.
It’s the same with her strokes.
What Navarro does not have to do is allow players like Aryna Sabalenka to hit her out or out spin Swiatek. But she can do a lot of damage if her feet are a step or two closer to the baseline more often, or even inside it.
Ayers, like Navarro, continues realizing the fact that life is not the same once the digit next to the rank is in single figures, at least on the ladder. It is rare for Navarro to sneak up on an opponent as she did on Gauff at dusk in southwest London six months ago. They are no longer afraid to play against her, so when that fear is out of the way, players can play without any constraint, Ayers added. “It is pretty cool to get everyone’s best shot,” he said. Australian Open as tennis limelight shines brighter.
Matthew Futterman
Jan 18, 2025
37
MELBOURNE, Australia — A frigid December afternoon in midtown Manhattan, in a hotel lobby off Central Park.
A 23-year-old woman looks up from a club chair near an elevator. She’s wearing a baseball cap and diddling around on her phone.
“Hey,” she says.
Take another look. That’s Emma Navarro: U.S. Open semifinalist and a top-10 women’s player after just one entire season of top-tier tournaments. She’s chilling ahead of a packed evening of photo ops, press gaggles, and an appearance at the New York Knicks NBA basketball game with a few other tennis players you might have heard of — Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, and Jessica Pegula.
It might be fun. Then again, hanging out in this comfy chair, anonymously watching the bustle of her native city pass by, is pretty cool, too. There are many reasons why Navarro, who plays Ons Jabeur in the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday, pursued tennis. Being a famous person was not one of them.
The exact opposite,” she said the other day, after a second-round win in Melbourne over Wang Xiyu of China, her second consecutive three-set battle with the outcome up in the air until the final point.
She was at it once again Saturday when she opened a packed Margaret Court Arena against Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam finalist and darling of the sport on the way back from a torrid few months with injury. After winning 20 of the first 24 points and surging to a 5-0 lead in the first set, she had to scramble in the third to prevail, saving three break points when serving at 1-2.
When it was over, she credited her parents for taking her and her siblings on six-hour bike rides when they were kids for her third-set prowess. Then she scribbled “me heart 3 sets” on the television camera. She should. She went 19-6 in matches that went the distance last season. On her way off the court, she was straight into signing autographs for fans hanging over the stands. The game was played in the light and shadow of lunchtime in Melbourne, and Navarro has not yet fully adjusted to being center stage day after day.
“It’s something that I work really hard at managing and feeling comfortable with being in the spotlight. It’s the opposite of my nature. It feels unnatural,” she said.
This happens in tennis sometimes. Not everything develops in sync. Not everyone who can fire forehands and backhand on a wire seemingly all afternoon is an alpha-dog extrovert, letting their life unfold in a series of Instagram posts and TikTok videos.
And so it is with Navarro, whose tennis life had explored incrementalism until the summer of last year. At 18, after a terrific junior career — including a singles final and doubles title at the French Open — she still wasn’t sure she wanted to be a professional tennis player. So she went to the University of Virginia for two years, where she won the NCAA nationwide college-level women’s singles championship.
When she did turn pro, she opted not to pursue wild-card entries that might have been quickly attainable, given that her father, Ben, is active in the tennis business and owns the ATP and WTA 1000-level Cincinnati Open. She was fine climbing through second-tier tournaments on the ITF and WTA 125 circuits.
Win or lose, Emma Navarro wants to hit one more ball.
Navarro was outside the top 100 as recently as April 2023. She finished that year as world No. 32, the magic number for a Grand Slam seeding, and won her first WTA Tour tournament in Hobart, Tasmania, the day before the start of the 2024 Australian Open.
Then, she played her way into the spotlight. She notched consecutive wins over Coco Gauff, first at Wimbledon and then at the U.S. Open, where Gauff, now a friend, was the defending champion. She rose into the top 10 for the first time. And that’s when things started to get a little busy.
Emma Navarro is figuring out how to live in the tennis limelight. (Daniel Pockett / Getty Images)
A flood of interview and appearance requests. A commercial portfolio that now includes deals with Fila, Yonex, Red Bull, Dove, Fanatics, De Bethune, and, as of Friday, Mejuri, the high-end jewelry brand that put her in a bespoke photo shoot in Charleston, S.C., in December. Navarro is the company’s first athlete ambassador.
For Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, Naomi Osaka and Gauff, and Iga Swiatek and Zheng Qinwen, something like that is just another day ending with a “Y.” For Navarro, it is, in her own words, “an adjustment”.
The adjustment has a tennis guise, too, which might help explain Navarro’s first two matches here this month. Both ended up being tennis escape rooms, first at Rod Laver Arena and then at the site’s second stadium, Margaret Court Arena.
She was down a break of serve in the third set in both matches. Peyton Stearns, another former NCAA champion, had a match point against her in a second-set tiebreak that she couldn’t take. Stearns then served for the match in the third but couldn’t get over the line.
In both cases, Navarro was in the first match of the day, putting her in the prime-time slot back in the States on ESPN — a slot that Gauff often plays in. Like the fame and exposure that winning and marketing deals carry, significant court assignments and prime-time hours bring a not-so-subtle message of expectation.
In both matches, the usually steady Navarro sprayed balls from the middle of the baseline that she had roped back for much of last year, wearing down opponent after opponent. Then she found a way, stringing together her best afternoon shots in the handful of deciding points that made the difference twice.
Against Jabeur, she raced through the first set to 5-0 before Jabeur started playing with the finesse that carried her to the brink of the biggest prizes in the sport. She got back to 5-4. Navarro still took the set.
For nearly her entire tennis life, Navarro had been the girl and then the woman who was thrilled when she showed up at a tournament and learned she was playing on Court 35 in the back of the facility.
“Like, put me in the forest,” she said.
That’s not happening anymore.
“You spend whatever 20 years working at something, mainly behind closed doors, and then all of a sudden you’re a form of entertainment for people,” she said. “People pay to come watch you do what you do. It’s definitely an adjustment.”
Navarro’s coach, Peter Ayers, has worked with her for eight years. He said his way of getting Navarro used to being a new version of herself during the off-season was to stick with the formula that brought her here.
“It’s always been a very methodical approach,” Ayers said during an interview in Melbourne. “We want her to get better without neglecting her bread and butter. It’s always a balance.”
For Navarro, who will never be one of the WTA tour’s giants, that means trying to play more significantly and aggressively within the parameters of her strengths. She is not about to start firing lasers like some peers can point in or out.
“I’m very leery of just chasing velocity,” said Ayers.
There are other ways.
Ayers is a baseball guy. One of his favorite pitchers was Greg Maddux, the Atlanta Braves ace of the 1990s. Maddux was far from the hardest thrower, but no one could place balls on the edge of the strike zone as well as he could. “There’s a lot she can do with being more precise,” Ayers said.
It’s the same with her strokes.
Navarro doesn’t have to try to out-hit players such as Aryna Sabalenka or out-spin Swiatek. But she can do a lot of damage if her feet are a step or two closer to the baseline more often or even inside it.
Ayers, like Navarro, knows that life is different when a single digit is next to your name on the rankings ladder. It’s been a while since Navarro sneaked up on anyone, as she did on Gauff at dusk in southwest London six months ago. Ayers said people aren’t afraid of losing to her anymore; opponents can play free without worrying about the consequences when that fear goes away.
“You’re getting everyone’s best shot,” he said. “The idea is that makes you better.”
Emma Navarro has been on the viewer’s back foot in two matches so far in the Australian Open. >(Daniel Pockett – Getty Images)
Navarro has always been sort of a fixer, an individual who applies problem-solving skills, whether it be issues related to her opponent, the time she wants to spend on tennis, or the kind of tennis player she wants to be. In a sense, what she’s doing now is solving the second problem–how to be this new person who has been doing better than all but four or five other women in the world these past six months.
“The single-digit gets me a little bit,” she said. “I have never felt it or seen it to be that bad and it is just so far from anything I could ever imagine I can do.”
That said, there has been some enlightenment of late that should hopefully start bearing fruit soon. Davydenko can play and win in a certain sort of way and still be that woman lounging on the chair in the cocktail hotel bar, sipping Daiquiris and watching the world go by.
“My tennis can be alpha and I’ll let that do its job and I can just be me,” said a resilient Kerber. “If I’m not upbeat, I’m likely not going to be performing to the best of my ability.”
