‘Nepo Kid’ Emma Navarro’s Popularity Falls After Qinwen Zheng Wins Olympic Gold

Nandini Rikhee | 04/08/2024
'Nepo Kid' Emma Navarro's Popularity Falls After Qinwen Zheng Wins Olympic Gold

A heated exchange took place between the American tennis player Emma Navarro and Chinese player Qinwen Zheng during their third-round women’s singles clash at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Though the Chinese shuttler decided to stay shut at that time, she has given a befitting reply to her then-opponent now.

Zheng beat Navarro during the third round of the women’s singles event by making a comeback after losing the first round. Zheng went on to win the remaining two sets, infuriating the American as she made an early exit from her first-ever Olympic tournament.

This prompted Navarro to make a very sharp statement when both players moved towards making the customary handshake after the game ended. The American told the Chinese that she didn’t respect the latter as a ‘competitor’.

Post the game when Emma was asked about what she told her Chinese opponent, she replied:

“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.”

However, she further applauded Zheng’s performance and added:

“But, kudos to her, she played some good tennis there at the end. She played better than me, so congrats to her.”

Zheng decided not to respond to the statement with the same aggression and rather chose a calmer way as she spoke after the game and said:

“It looks like she’s not happy with my behavior towards her. If she’s not happy about my behavior, she can come and tell me. I would like to correct it to become a better player and a better person.”

But now the Chinese star has given the American a perfect reply as she went on to win the gold medal in the women’s singles category at the Olympics. She beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic in straight sets to create history for her country.

With her gold medal victory, Qinwen became the first-ever Chinese player to bag a gold medal in tennis at the Olympics. This is a special victory as the sport is majorly dominated by American and European players and an Asian’s entry and victory will sow the seeds for the future.

However, the American’s claim that Zheng is unpopular in the locker room cannot be considered completely true. Recently, the World No.1 women’s tennis player Iga Swiatek clicked a selfie with her and silver medalist Donna Vekic after the trio made a podium finish at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the women’s singles category.

Post Edited By: Dhruv Rupani
Emma Navarro Olympics 2024 Qinwen Zheng

About the author

Nandini tennis writer

Nandini Rikhee

Nandini Rikhee is a Tennis writer for The SportsRush. Having done her bachelors in Journalism from Lady Shri Ram College for women, Nandini has been working in the field of sports journalism for around 3 years now. During the course of this time, she got the opportunity to cover some major sports events and tournaments like the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games etc. She grew up watching Roger Federer hit his iconic backhand and Rafael Nadal his classic forehand. Being a Tennis enthusiast, working for this sport is a matter of delight for her as it helps her enjoy and love the work.

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