Emma Navarro had a thorn in her side with the quarter-finals. She came close at Roland Garros, but Aryna Sabalenka crossed his pathwhich prevented her from qualifying for the penultimate round of a Grand Slam for the first time. Something she has managed to do in New York, where she will face Paula Badosa. An achievement that, in addition, has assured him a minimum check of 530,000 dollars, a more than juicy figure for any tennis player who is 23 years old and has only recently been in the top 30 of the world rankings. But for Emma Navarro, this prize is nothing. She doesn’t care about money at all.
Emma Navarro, number 12 in the WTA at 23 years old, is enjoying the best Grand Slam of her career at the US Open. Until now, the fourth round at Roland Garros last June had been her ceiling. But this Tuesday she will go out to Arthur Ashe to fight for a ticket to her first Grand Slam semi-finals against the Spaniard.. One point against him: he already knows what it is like to lose to Badosa. One point in his favour? He doesn’t need the money to keep alive the expensive dream of being a professional tennis player.
The reason the check matters nothing and even less will be sitting in her box today. His name is Ben Navarro, he is her father, and he is a popular businessman. in the United States. Ben Navarro is famous because his father, Emma’s grandfather, Frank Navarro, was an American football player and because he managed to create a banking empire.
According to Forbes, Ben Navarro has a fortune of 1.5 billion dollars and is ranked 2,089th among the richest people in the world. To put the figure into context: not even the sum of the fortunes of Roger Federer (550 million), Rafael Nadal (220) and Novak Djokovic (240) they reach the inheritance that will one day reach the hands of Emma Navarro.
Ben Navarro was a vice president of Citgroup and founded Sherman Financial Group in 1998.a company that ended up being “a credit card and debt collection empire,” he says. Forbes on his website. Thanks to his fortune, heIn 2018, it bought the Charleston WTA, 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 the nine Masters 1000 category events in the world.
Emma Navarro’s emergence on the circuit
While her father was busy in the offices, Emma Navarro was busy on the track. 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 won her first title as a professional (in Hobart, in January)has achieved her first victory over a Grand Slam champion (Sabalenka in Indian Wells) and has reached the top 20 of the WTA. If she defeats Badosa, she will enter the top 10 of the women’s rankings for the first time.
“Results and ranking in the WTA are not something that comes easily… Although it seems like I got here overnight, I have worked hard over the years and so has my team.”the American said a few weeks ago. “I always go out on court believing that I have a chance to win and that is always my priority.”
