Emma Navarro was unable to bounce back from the Beijing Open first-round setback, as she was eliminated in the quarterfinals of a 125-level tournament. She was the top seed in the Hong Kong Open but did not make it far, which drew criticism from some sections of fans. Additionally, she has been criticized for the publicity surrounding her participation in the upcoming Charleston Open.
It is important to note that the WTA 500 tournament, which is taking place in Emma’s hometown, is sponsored by Credit One – a company owned by her father, Ben Navarro. The newly redecorated Credit One Stadium will host the tournament.
However, the tournament released a press release specifically to announce Navarro’s participation in the tournament. Emma’s special hero poster was also featured on the tournament’s Instagram page to hype her presence at the event.
That did not sit well with tennis fans. Despite having the ‘home girl factor’ and being in the top 10 rankings, they felt that Emma had not achieved anything significant to receive this type of treatment. Additionally, there are other players who lead her in the rankings and were conveniently left out.
I get that she’s a top-10 player now, but objectively funny to have a press release about the deeply unsurprising news that Emma Navarro is entering…a tournament owned by her father. pic.twitter.com/eAso5OCyt3
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) October 2, 2024
They are strange people.
— NightlyOwl (@minniehawkeye) October 3, 2024
I don’t even know what this means? Many things off with this press release but here’s a weird thing that has caught my attention. “One of four top 10 US players” but they conveniently left out the player she trails in the ranking? i.e., Gauff?
— Roseline (@roshati91) October 2, 2024
shes only been getting wildcards into daddys tournament for the last half a decade
— ana (@anasonice) October 2, 2024
Probably a nice big appearance fee also.
— Amy ✈️⚖️☮️ ♏️ (@amyadorapj) October 2, 2024
Navarro faced criticism earlier for her decision to compete in the Hong Kong Open, despite it being a WTA 125 event. However, she lost to Russian player Anna Blinkova, ranked 78 in the world, in the quarterfinals.
Emma Navarro’s infamous history with Qinwen Zheng
Navarro received massive criticism for what she said about Qinwen Zheng following her third-round loss to the Chinese tennis player at the Paris Olympics. Disclosing the details of the conversation in the post-match press conference, she said:
“I just told her I didn’t respect her as a competitor. I think she goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way. It makes for a locker room that doesn’t have a lot of camaraderie, so it’s tough to face an opponent like that, who I really don’t respect.”
Fans will closely monitor her performances following the hype surrounding her home tournament. It will be interesting to see if she manages to put behind her recent setbacks and make a comeback in this event.
