Drama isn’t ready to leave the US Open arena at all. After a tremendous victory over the defending champion Coco Gauff, compatriot Emma Navarro continues to extend her lead, reserving a slot into the semi-finals. While the other side of the quarters could send a tense rival Qinwen Zheng, the American revealed the true reason behind their feud at the Paris Olympics.

American rising tennis star Emma Navarro was all over the headlines, with her intense criticism of Chinese player Qinwen Zheng following their epic third-round clash at the Olympic tennis competition. While it wasn’t a Grand Slam, the intensity on the court was undeniable, and there were strong words from Navarro after their hard-fought loss.

It was a more than three-hour-plus affair, and Zheng took the lead with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-1 victory. But the actual drama unfolded post-match, as Navarro went on to confront Zheng at the net. The 23-year-old Navarro, who has been pitted against Zheng since their junior days, uncovered deep-set frustrations when she accused Zheng of disrespecting her as a competitor.

The memories of these heated incidents were recently revived as Navarro, who reached the US Open semifinals in her home city, said her remarks were not an emotional outburst but the sum of years of feeling disrespected by Zheng. “I don’t want to go super into the weeds with it, but I think during that match and on the practice court and the last few times I’ve played her — because we’ve been playing each other since we were juniors — I felt just a little bit disrespected by her,” she explained. “That’s why I said what I said after the match. That’s it.”

Navarro further explained that her emotions weren’t just one-off, but had been accumulating over various games and practice sessions. “Even if I’d won, I probably would’ve said the same thing,” she admitted. “It wasn’t a sort of, in-the-moment emotional thing. It was just kind of matter-of-factly how I felt.”

The pressure between the two has only escalated since then, and with Navarro now into her first Slam semifinal, it very much looks like they will meet again very shortly — maybe as soon as Thursday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Navarro admitted that they have not talked since that flare-up and said she sticks by her comments. “Maybe it’s just one person’s opinion. That wasn’t an emotional outburst. That was just sort of how I felt.”

With both of them now on potential rematches, all eyes will be on the showdown involving Zheng and Aryna Sabalenka to see if the second chapter of this story is written. However, as soon as the update started to make its way on social media, fans started bringing hate against the American contender.

Fans lash out at Emma Navarro’s “frustrating” take against Qinwen Zheng

Renowned journalist Ben Rothenberg was quick enough to share a post regarding this update on social media. As soon as the post started receiving attention from active tennis fans, they were not at all ready to side with the American WTA star. Their comments appeared to be going against her, despite the commendable trail of victories.

A fan agreed to the fact that it was Emma Navarro who ignited the debate back then and now. “Emma started it by saying what she did, but never explained why. If she acted like an adult, she would have had the conversation in private and we would know nothing about it,” he wrote.

Another fan expressed his free will to support the American players at the US Open this time. However, he had to reconsider after going through this update. “I try to support Americans but not sure there will be a rational explanation for her saying that to Zheng,” he wrote.

A comment pointed to the fact that Navarro didn’t give out details regarding her feud against Zheng. “It’s frustrating for her to diss Zheng without details. It makes it impossible to fact check the negativity or give Zheng enough facts to respond,” he wrote.

A fan was quick enough to derive a conclusion that she, “Embarrassed the US at the Olympics”. Explaining how things are even worse, they added, “Hard to support Emma unless there’s some kind of explanation for that really rude, low class behavior.” International media regarded the events at the Paris Olympics as “drama”. This was a negative comment about not just the players, but the nation as well.

Another fan reminded everyone of the “pretty awkward” moment when Rennae Stubbs asked her about the upcoming round rival during the post-match interview. Although the American didn’t quite say a lot then, she still received flak over it.

With these and several other comments on a similar note, the fans made it clear that they were not ready to stand with Navarro over this act. Will this controversial state affect her popularity at the US Open despite the massive lead?