NEW YORK (Reuters) – Emma Navarro thought that winning a single match at this year’s U.S. Open would qualify as a success and leaves New York believing she has what it takes to be a Grand Slam champion.
With her understated demeanor, the 23-year-old has quietly emerged as a force in American women’s tennis and proved it with impressive wins over Coco Gauff and Paula Badosa before falling to Aryna Sabalenka in Thursday’s semi-final.
“Winning a Grand Slam is something that even just a few months ago was not really on my radar,” Navarro told reporters.
“So to now be in a position where I’m thinking about and working towards winning Grand Slams is exciting. It’s motivating.”
By reaching the semis of a major for the first time Navarro will break into the world’s top 10, taking the world number eight spot after the tournament.
“It’s pretty crazy and I think it’s a testament to a lot of hard work,” she said.
“Definitely leaving with a lot of positives.”
While second-seed Sabalenka emerged with a 6-3 7-6(2) victory the match felt closer than the scoreline indicates.
After dropping the high-quality opening set, Navarro broke the hard-hitting Belarusian as she tried to serve out the match at 5-3, the New York native pumping up the home crowd before ultimately succumbing in the deciding tiebreak.
Instead of hanging her head, Navarro sounded eager to use the lessons she learned in her first ever night match on Arthur Ashe Stadium going forward.
“I wasn’t ready for the match to be over there at 5-3,” she said.
“I really wanted to stick in there and keep playing. The crowd got into it, which was awesome.
“It was maybe a little bit of a learning curve out there, feeling like, okay, I can win this, I’m in this.
“I’m obviously playing a great opponent, but I can push back against her serve and I can get ahead in points and play the aggressive game.”
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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