Despite being on the WTA Tour for just more than a year, Emma Navarro has become a household name. With the virtue of dominating her opponents on a weekly basis, Navarro has gained a lot of respect from her competitors. Compatriot Taylor Townsend is among the many with whom she’s developed a great relationship. According to her interview with Prakash Amritraj on Tennis Channel, Townsend was the one also responsible for pushing her to rap at the Billie Jean King Cup dinner.
Following Emma Navarro’s opening-round win at the Madrid Open 2024, the American revealed an incident that revealed her budding friendship with veteran Taylor Townsend. Shedding light on her iconic rap from the Billie Jean King Cup dinner that has gone viral on social media, the 22-year-old revealed Townsend’s role in the same.
“Taylor was like ‘oh yeah, you have to do your rookie rap’. I’m like ‘what’s a rookie rap’. She’s like ‘you’ll find out’… I’m like ‘yeah that’s hilarious’. And then we’re in the van ride on the way to whatever dinner that was and they’re like no you actually have to do it. Obviously, Taylor leading the charge,” Navarro revealed.
A few weeks ago, Team USA hosted a dinner for Belgium ahead of their Billie Jean King Cup encounter. During the ceremony, Emma performed her customary rookie rap. As she put her rapping skills on display, Taylor Townsend was seen enjoying and hyping up the youngster.
It is clearly evident that the 28-year-old putting the former Virginia Cavalier on the spot at the function only helped improve the relationship between them.
Being great friends, Townsend will certainly be proud of Navarro if the latter manages to make a deep run at the ongoing Madrid Open 2024 competition.
Emma Navarro Will Face Beatriz Haddad Maia in Round 3 of the Madrid Open 2024
Emma Navarro had a great but shortened start to the clay court season. At the Charleston Open 2024, the New York native dominated Katie Volynets 6-1, 6-1 in the opening round but lost the next match against Jaqueline Cristian.
After a small setback, Navarro turned back to her winning ways at the Madrid Open 2024. She cruised into the third round after clinching a 6-2, 6-1 win against Nadia Podoroska. As her third-round encounter, the 2021 NCAA Singles Champion will be going up against #11 Beatriz Haddad Maia.
With a 67.52% winning record (per Tennis Live) on clay combined with the fact that she’s won her only head-to-head clash against the Brazilian, Navarro will be confident entering Saturday’s duel. The match will take place approximately at 5 AM ET and will be live streamed on the Tennis Channel in the United States. While fans in the UK can catch the match live at 9 AM GMT on Eurosport.
