"I thought they were joking..": Emma Navarro forced to perform rap during Billie Jean King Cup USA initiation

At the age of 22, Emma Navarro has ascended into being a top 20 player and has had a stark rise up the rankings after a breakout 2023 and will add another accolade this weekend at the Billie Jean King Cup as she represents Team USA against Belgium.

Alongside Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys as the leading lights, she will face Elise Mertens' Belgium and had to go through a special initiation that she initially thought was a joke. But was anything but when it came down to it. As she recalled in her speech, she had to write it in the car as she thought the rap element of the initiation was a joke. "Yesterday I was told that on Team USA the rookies always have to write and perform a rap. But I thought they were joking so I didn't write it until the car ride here. Just bear me with me if it's not what you hear on the radio," said Navarro in her speech.

Still though she completed it and had her teammates even doing handstands on the lawn afterwards. The winners of the Qualifiers ties go through to November's Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Seville. Navarro too will also be in the hunt for a spot in the Olympic Games team. Initially it looked certain that Navarro and Keys would join Pegula and Gauff. But Danielle Collins having demon form in recent weeks has put a kibosh on that for now.