Paris.-If Emma Navarro wins this Monday Aryna Sabalenka at Roland Garros, will qualify for the first time in his career to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. Besides, A minimum check of 415,000 euros will be guaranteed, a more than juicy figure for any tennis player who is 23 years old and has been among the top 30 in the world ranking for a very short time. But for Emma Navarro that award is nothing. Money doesn’t matter exactly the same to her.
Emma Navarro, number 24 in the WTA at 23 years old, is enjoying the best Grand Slam of her so far short career in Paris. Until now, Australia’s third round in January had been his ceiling. But this Monday he will go to the Philippe Chatrier to fight for a ticket to the quarterfinals against the almighty Sabalenka. One point in her favor: that she already knows what it is to beat the Belarusian, since she achieved it this year in Indian Wells. Another point in her favor? That she doesn’t need the money to keep alive the expensive dream of being a professional tennis player.
The reason the check matters nothing and less will be sitting in his box this Monday. His name is Ben Navarro, she is his father, and he is a popular businessman. in United States. Ben Navarro is famous because his father, Emma’s grandfather, Frank Navarro, was an American football player and because he has managed to create a banking empire.
According to Forbes, Ben Navarro has a fortune of 1.5 billion dollars and is in position 2,089 of the richest people in the world. To put the figure in context: not even the sum of the fortunes of Roger Federer (550 million), Rafael Nadal (220) and Novak Djokovic (240) They achieve the inheritance that will one day reach the hands of Emma Navarro.
Ben Navarro was vice president of Citgroup and in 1998 founded Sherman Financial Groupa company that ended up being “a credit card and debt collection empire,” he says. Forbes in his web page. Thanks to his fortune, andIn 2018, it bought the WTA in Charleston, one of the most important women’s tournaments in the world, and in 2022 it expanded its tentacles in tennis by acquiring the rights to the Cincinnati tournament.one of nine Masters 1000 category events in the world.
The emergence of Emma Navarro on the circuit
While her father moved around in the offices, Emma Navarro did so on the court. In 2021 she was the American NCAA champion playing for the University of Virginia and In 2023 she entered the WTA top 100 for the first time. And in 2024 she is raising the bar even further.
So far this season, Emma Navarro has lifted her first title as a professional (in Hobart, in January)has achieved her first victory against a Grand Slam champion (Sabalenka in Indian Wells) and has reached the top 20 of the WTA.
“Results and classification in the WTA is not something that comes easily… Although it seems like I arrived overnight, I have worked hard over the years and so has my team“said the American in Paris, where she dreams of emulating the blow she gave in Indian Wells against Sabalenka. “I always go out on the court believing that I have some chance of winning and that is always my priority. I want to give everything to move forward. It’s great to play against a rival like Sabalenka and feel like I can win“.
