Currently competing at the US Open and coached by the well known and respected coach Peter Ayers, Navarro’s star is firmly on the rise, with a win against Barbora Krejčíková at Wimbledon and Naomi Osaka at this year’s Bad Homburg Open in Germany.
The message is clear: Play tennis? Then Navarro is coming for you.
Her rapid ascent wasn’t always so fast-paced. Raised in the sticky South Carolinian air of Charleston, Navarro first picked up a racket on a slow Saturday morning with her dad and two older brothers. “My dad just kind of got all of us into it,” Navarro says. “I think he realized how important the lessons you learn through sports are.”
A long-time Charleston resident, Navarro loves training at home
© Robert Snow/Red Bull Content Pool
She began working with Ayers at 14, but getting to training was a struggle, with her mum frequently tipping water on her to get her out of bed, which might just be where Navarro’s sense of humour comes from.
She went on to play tennis at the University of Virginia, where she became the 2021 NCAA singles champion (her younger sister, Meggie, also played there.) Sure, Navarro could have skipped college and got stuck into her pro career, but she wanted the extra years to really get to know herself and what she wanted from life. “It took me going to college to realize that a more traditional path is probably not for me,” she says.
From there, Navarro battled it out playing smaller pro matches and building up victories – and confidence – as she went. “I don’t like to skip steps,” she says, adding that by the time it came to play bigger tournaments, she knew she belonged there.
To date, she’s bagged two singles titles on the WTA Tour and reached a major semi-final at the 2024 US Open, as well as being named the WTA Tour Most Improved Player of the Year for 2024.
It’s an impressive record, but life off the court is just as important to her. Fresh from the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, DC, where she lost out to Maria Sakkari in the Round of 16, Navarro jumped on a call to discuss her favourite place to play tennis, everything you need to know about her home and her American Football appreciation.
Navarro didn’t take the normal tennis pro route, attending college first
© Robert Snow/Red Bull Content Pool
It’s definitely nice to go home to Charleston and just play on the courts that I’ve always played at. I guess you kind of feel like a kid again
Emma, you’ve travelled the world, so where’s your favourite place to play tennis?
My favorite place I’ve played is the center court at Wimbledon. I think it’s an atmosphere that’s hard to beat, and that’s a court that I’ll remember forever. Then also, I kind of just love playing at my home club in Charleston, on like court 11 or whatever, next to the academy kids. I think it feels like home. It’s the place I’ve been playing since I was eight years old or something, so it’s definitely nice to go home and just play on the courts that I’ve always played at. I guess you kind of feel like a kid again.
You’re jetting around a lot. What’s your travel process?
I don’t do anything crazy. The hardest part of travelling for me is packing and lugging my bags from the room to the check-in counter. That’s the most frustrating part of traveling because I have three or four large bags, so that’s always tough. And then, once I get rid of my bags, I feel relieved. If I’m not trying to sleep, I will get some ice and a Red Bull, and my go-to airplane snack is probably popcorn.
Are you watching anything on the plane, or at home?
My guilty pleasure is reality TV. The dumber the better. Love Island, I really get into. Love is Blind, I’ll get into. I also love documentaries. Any kind of sports or action type documentaries I get really into. I like a couple of podcasts as well. I listen to the Giggly Squad podcast, and I listen to Brooke and Connor Make A podcast. They’re comedy, but it’s mostly just brain rot.
My favorite place I’ve played is the center court at Wimbledon. I think it’s an atmosphere that’s hard to beat
Would you do well on a show like Love Island?
Oh man, I think I would be so uncomfortable if I went on Love Island. I would just think my family is watching. I would just turn into a shell of myself, it would be terrible.
You were born in New York, but grew up in Charleston. Do you identify with one place over the other?
At this point, I kind of see myself as as fully Charleston. I don’t spend a ton of time in New York. We spent Christmases there for the first probably 20 years of my life, and we try to get up there a couple times a year at least, but now I’m traveling so much that it’s hard to make time to go anywhere for fun anymore. So yeah, Charleston is definitely home.
Navarro’s game is on the cusp of putting her in the global top 10
© Robert Snow/Red Bull Content Pool
What do you do in New York when you’re back?
I’ve got to get a bagel, for sure. There’s a place near us called Tal Bagels, and they’re probably my favorite. I keep seeing so many new bagel spots on Instagram that I have to go try out. I have to see if they’re worth the hype. I also love a burger from JG Mellon and ice cream from Caffe Panna. It’s tough to beat. And I kind of just love walking around the city.
What about Charleston. What do we need to know?
Oh man, Charleston is the best. It’s probably my favorite city in the world. I’m probably a little bit biased, but we kind of have everything. I think it’s grown to the point where it’s definitely a complete city, but it sort of still has the small-town feel. We have three beaches, all of the buildings are really old, and the people are very polite. I think our food scene is growing, too. We’ve always had the Southern and seafood cuisines down to a tee, but now we have good Italian, and we have good Mexican.
We hear you’re a bit of a grill master. What makes the perfect steak?
If I’m at my parents’ house, my dad’s doing the grilling. I’ll never replace him as family grill master – he’s head honcho. When I’m on the road and we’re renting a house, like at Wimbledon, we had a grill in the backyard, so I was doing some grilling. We did some burgers and we did some steaks. I like a little char on the outside, get the nice grill marks, maybe a little crispy. I like my steaks cooked medium, so definitely a bit of pink in there. The main thing, though, is making sure no one gets sick.
Random question, but If you could swap lives with any other athlete for a day, who would it be and why?
I’ve been watching the Quarterback show on Netflix. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but they just came out with a new season, and they have Joe Burrow and Kirk Cousins on it. I think what quarterbacks do is so impressive. They’re students of their sport. They spend equal, if not more, hours studying their own playbooks and studying other teams’ playbooks than they do on the field. If I could trade lives with one of them and have their ability to do what they do, I would do that. With my current ability, I definitely would not switch lives, though.
Something my coach talks about a lot is, ‘All you have to be is everything you are.’ I think that’s really powerful, especially on days when you’re doubting yourself
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten from your coach?
Something my coach talks about a lot is, ‘All you have to be is everything you are.’ I think that’s really powerful, especially on days when you’re doubting yourself or you don’t feel that confident heading into a match. Your only task is to just be everything you are. Do the things you work on and try to just get the most out of yourself on a given day.
What do you listen to to get pumped up before a match?
It changes, but I’ve been into NOKIA by Drake, In Fact by Melvitto, and it might be controversial, but I like Justin Bieber’s new album. There’s a song on there called Way It Is, so let’s throw that in.
Bieber’s a pretty stylish guy and you seem to be into fashion. Who inspires you?
I’m rubbish with celebrities, but it’s fun to dress up. It’s a way to express myself off the court, because I’m usually wearing athletic gear. It’s nice to step out in something that’s not athletic every now and then. I think Kendall Jenner has really good style. When I see her wearing an outfit, I’m like, ‘Oh, that looks good.’ Haley Bieber, too.
A New York native, Navarro is now a fully-fledged Charleston fan
© Robert Snow/Red Bull Content Pool
Last question, if you could give your 15-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be?
I think I would tell myself to trust myself. I think especially at that age, probably for 15-year-old girls, it’s hard to just trust your gut, your feelings and the thoughts and opinions that you have. I didn’t realize that just because someone else spoke their opinions more decisively than I, or was louder than I and better at articulating their thoughts than I, it didn’t mean they were right.
OK, one more. What are you telling your 90-year-old self?
I hope you feel good about all the things you’ve done in your life, not just the accomplishments, but all the little things, and the processes and the hardships. Hopefully, you have a lot of really great family members around you that are still making fun of you, and hopefully, you’re still making fun of them. And try to make it another 10 years.
Part of this story
