"I have been dealing with some health struggles over the past year" - More misery for Emma Navarro as she set to miss Charleston Open through illness

It has been a miserable period on court for Emma Navarro, and it seems to get worse for the American as she is set to miss the Charleston Open due to ongoing illness.

It is a really painful one for Navarro to miss due to it being her home event. She resides in Charleston and would have been a firm favourite with the crowd when she was due to step onto the court. That will not be able to happen as she will have to wait a little longer before kicking off her clay swing.

Unfortunately, a continuous illness has forced her to skip this year's event, confirmed in a press release by the tournament. "I'm super disappointed to not be playing the Charleston Open this year," Navarro said. "The tournament means so much to me, and I never take for granted the opportunity to play at home in front of my family, friends, and the Charleston community, whose support is overwhelming and unconditional."

She had competed in her home event six prior times, reaching the quarterfinals last year in her best result before being dumped out against Amanda Anisimova. It is played on green clay which is a lot more common in the USA compared to the red synonymous with Europe. It is a faster surface and a different challenge for the players to adapt to ahead of competing in the big WTA 1000 events in Madrid and Rome before the second Grand Slam in the form of Roland Garros commences.

"Unfortunately, I have been dealing with some health struggles over the past year or so that I am continuing to sort out," she continued. "I am working closely with my doctors and team to feel the best I can, but I just need a bit more time in doing so. I feel optimistic that I'll be back on court soon in the coming weeks, and I'm already looking forward to competing in Charleston next year!"

It has not been a great 2026 for Navaroo who cannot find her prior top form. She won two WTA titles, the first coming in the 2024 Hobart International before just over a year later winning the Merida Open.

She would lose her first match of 2026 at the ASB Classic before reaching the quarterfinals in Adelaide where she was the sixth seed. She squandered a set advantage in the first round of the Australian Open against Magda Linette, failing to defend the points claimed from the quarterfinal run in 2025.

She has since won two matches from the six following competitions. A first round exit in the Abu Dhabi Open was followed by a brace of third round departures in the first WTA 1000 tournaments of the year in Doha and Dubai.

Her title defence in Merida barely began, losing out at the first hurdle to qualifier Shuai Zhang while relinquishing a huge number of points. She spurned a match point in her clash against Sonay Kartal at Indian Wells while getting back on the court in a WTA 125 tournament, being dumped out by Lulu Sun again at the first stage.

It is really frustrating form for the 24-year-old who did not turn up to compete in the Miami Open for undisclosed reasons. This has been backed up with her not being involved in the Charleston Open as her miserable 2026 prolongs. She will hope to get back to her best form in the near future with more of a ranking drop possibly in store. She ended 2025 as the world number 15. She now sits at 25th in the live rankings.