I belong in these rounds of grand slams, says Emma Navarro after her victory over Coco Gauff

Navarro played college tennis at the University of Virginia and won an NCAA singles championship for the school as a freshman in 2021.

Emma Navarro’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over defending champion Coco Gauff at the US Open earned her a quarter-finals berth for the second consecutive grand slam tournament.

Before this year’s appearance in New York, Navarro had never been past the first round at Flushing Meadows. “I believe that I can play tennis with the best players in the world. I deserve to be on this stage,” Navarro said. “I belong in these rounds of grand slams. I can make deep runs.”

Who is Emma Navarro? Navarro is 23, was born in New York — which she made sure to mention during her post-match interview at Arthur Ashe Stadium — and grew up in South Carolina.

Her father, Ben, is the billionaire founder and CEO of Sherman Financial Group. He owns the WTA Tour event in Charleston and attempted to buy the NFL’s Carolina Panthers in 2018.

Navarro played college tennis at the University of Virginia and won an NCAA singles championship for the school as a freshman in 2021.

Navarro has been soaring up the rankings, going from No. 143 at the end of 2022, to No. 38 at the end of last year to her current career-best No. 12. She is seeded 13th at the US Open because the seedings were based on rankings from before last month’s draw.

She is 49-19 in 2024 with her first WTA title, which arrived on a hard court — the same surface used at the U.S. Open — at Hobart, Australia, in January. “In the past, I’ve seen choices on court — like taking the ball on the rise or moving forward to hit a forehand as opposed to moving back, stuff like that. Those have been choices in the past. Now I see those types of situations as less of a choice and more of, like: I have to take this on in this way,” explained Navarro, who rarely shows much emotion during a match.

The 2024 US Open is Navarro’s eighth grand slam tournament. Navarro also defeated Gauff in their fourth-round match at Wimbledon.

Before that showing, which ended with a quarterfinal loss to Jasmine Paolini, Navarro’s record in majors was 6-5, including 0-2 at the U.S. Open, where she exited in the first round in 2021 and 2023.

“It’s pretty insane just to talk about winning a grand slam or winning a tournament like the US Open. A few months ago, even I wouldn’t have said that,” Navarro said. “So it’s pretty crazy to be sitting here now and have the quarter-finals ahead of me and feel like I’m playing good enough to keep it going.”