🚨 Third Set Alert 🚨 Emma Navarro saves match point and takes the second set 7-6(8) against the No.3 seed Rybakina! #QatarTotalEnergiesOpen
Who is Emma Navarro? "It's been a long time coming, it's taken a lot of years to get here": Emma Navarro continuing to rise
WTAWednesday, 13 March 2024 at 21:32
Emma Navarro shared details of her progress on the WTA Tour after reaching the top-30 at just 22 years old. The American has achieved significant results quietly, and her consistency has elevated her status as a seeded player in several tournaments.
There are only three players younger than her with a higher WTA ranking: Qinwen Zheng (No. 7), Coco Gauff (No. 3), and Iga Swiatek (No. 1), although the latter is younger by less than 2 weeks. She has now made a further splash by dumping out Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells to reach the Quarter-Finals and establish herself to the wider tennis consciousness. Also she has the most wins on tour this year eclipsing Iga Swiatek.
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Navarro has experienced a rapid ascent on the Tour. As the 2021 NCAA champion for Virginia University, she turned professional in 2022 and quickly adapted to the Tour's level, establishing herself as a top-30 player: "It's always a challenge to feel that I am the player that I'm ranked as," Navarro said.
"That's something that even if I repeat it to myself 10 times over I don't know if I believe it. That's not so much a physical ability thing, it's more that it's just happened really fast,” she said.
The American has had a strong start to 2024. This Monday, she appeared as world No. 23 and has a record of 13-3 in the early part of the year, trailing only Elena Rybakina and Jelena Ostapenko. Additionally, she secured the title at the WTA 250 Hobart Open, which provided the final push to be among the top 30: "My brain needs time to catch up in terms of processing that."
"I felt like it was really important to just take my time and kind of go through this rite of passage of playing ITFs and getting a bunch of matches in," she said. "Just gaining confidence in who I am as a player and how I like to play and the plays I like to go to in big moments, just figuring all that stuff out.
Navarro is the player with the most wins in three sets (7) and the most comeback wins (5) in 2024: "By getting a lot of matches in, I think that was really important for me and it gave me a lot of confidence coming into this new level."
"There was a time, when I was 15 or 16, when being a decent college player was going to be good enough for me -- and maybe not even that," Navarro said. "Maybe that wasn't going to even happen.
"So it's taken a lot to believe in myself and believe that I can play at this level with this caliber of player. I'm a perfectionist and I expect a lot of myself every day and when I don't get that my initial reaction is to think I'll never be good enough," she added.
Navarro's rise has been quiet on the Tour, and her goals are now aiming higher and higher: "End of last year my goal was to be Top 30 in two years," Navarro said. "So I kind of beat that timeline a little bit. "
"I've never gotten too hung up on rankings or results. It's just been process-oriented. So just continue to get better. That's what I love about the sport. I can go practice or play a match and there's always something to improve on. It's never the end."
List of impressive results of Emma Navarro in 2024
Indian Wells R16 Navarro vs Aryna Sabalenka 6-3 3-6 6-2
Indian Wells R32 Navarro d. Elina Svitolina 6-1 4-6 6-3
Indian Wells R64 Navarro d. Lesia Tsurenko 4-6 7-5 7-5
San Diego SF Katie Boulter [GBR] d. Navarro 6-3 6-1
San Diego QF Navarro d. Daria Saville 6-4 6-2
San Diego R16 Navarro d. Katerina Siniakova 6-3 3-6 6-1
Dubai R32 Maria Sakkari d. Navarro 6-2 6-4
Dubai R64 Navarro d. Katerina Siniakova 4-6 7-5 6-4
Doha R16 Elena Rybakina d. Navarro 6-1 6-7(6) 6-4
Doha R32 Navarro d. Elise Mertens 6-1 6-3
Doha R64 Navarro d. Jasmine Paolini 6-3 7-5
Australian Open R32 Dayana Yastremska d. Navarro 6-2 2-6 6-1
Australian Open R64 Navarro d. Elisabetta Cocciaretto 4-6 6-3 6-3
Australian Open R128 Navarro d. Xiyu Wang 6-1 6-7(5) 7-5
Hobart Navarro defeats Elise Mertens 6-1 4-6 7-5 and wins the title
Hobart SF Navarro d. Yue Yuan 6-4 6-3
Hobart QF Navarro d. Viktoriya Tomova 4-6 6-3 6-2
Hobart R16 Navarro d. Magdalena Frech 6-3 6-3
Hobart R32 Navarro d. Clara Burel 4-6 6-3 6-3
Auckland SF Cori Gauff d. Navarro 6-3 6-1
Auckland QF Navarro d. Petra Martic 6-4 6-3
Auckland R16 Navarro d. Elina Avanesyan 6-1 6-2
Auckland R32 Navarro d. Linda Fruhvirtova 2-6 6-4 6-2
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