One soaring high was reaching the semifinals at last year’s US Open in the Arthur Ashe stadium. She played against Aryna Sabalenka in a particularly moving match for Navarro, who was born in New York city.
‘It’s the biggest tennis stadium in the world. You’re in a bowl and it feels like you’re in an abyss… just to hear the crowd roar, to feel the New York city energy [the city she was born in]. It is unmatched.’
She doesn’t have to deliberate long to pinpoint what has been, as a counterpoint, her lowest low.
‘Losing at the Olympics was really tough. There are just some emotions at the Olympics that you can’t quite describe. You are sleeping in cardboard beds at the Olympic village and you’re not sleeping much. You’re playing with your country’s flag on your chest and the USA on your back. There’s this energy and pride that you play with… you feel like you are playing for something bigger than yourself.’
She lost in the third round. ‘I had match points in the second set and wasn’t able to close it out. That was a really tough match to lose. It definitely took me a while to get over that one.’
A little of that tension spilled out when Navarro had some choice words for her opponent, Qinwen Zheng, who beat her in the third round. ‘I just told her I didn’t respect her as a competitor,’ Navarro revealed at a press conference later. ‘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.’ Qinwen’s response to Navarro? ‘It looks like she’s not happy with my behaviour towards her. If she’s not happy about my behaviour, she can come and tell me. I would like to correct [it] to become a better player and a better person.’ Tatler reached out to Zheng for comment.
