Emma Navarro let her racket make the noise on her debut at Wimbledon. While she has now reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, before getting recognized as a tennis player, Emma was known by her father Ben’s name, who owns the Charleston Open. However, recently, Serena Williams‘ ex-coach opened up about the first time she watched the 23-year-old tennis star play.

Not only did the young American tennis player defeat Naomi Osaka, but to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Emma Navarro also went against Coco Gauff and moved forward with a victory. While she is recognized around the tennis world for her amazing debut performance at Wimbledon, on the Rennae Stubbs podcast’s recent episode, the coach recorded the moment when she saw Navarro play tennis for the first time.

The pandemic was on and “there was no tennis going on,” as Stubbs put it. But Emma Navarro took part in an exhibition match that her dad had helped put on it Charleston. Among a number of top American players, the young daughter of one of the tournament organizers caught the coach’s eye.

Stubbs stated, “Emma Navarro was playing because her dad, you know, helped provide put the tournament on. And I remember watching her, I said, who’s this kid, like where’d she come from? They’re like, oh she’s you know, Ben’s baughter and I thought. Yeah. But she’s really good. She’s super talented. she’s a little bit heavier, wasn’t quite as fit as she is now.” But overall, the impression Navarro left was that of a champion in the making.

Subsequently, Navarro’s current physical metamorphosis was discussed in a previous edition of the podcast. During an interview with Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs on the latter’s podcast in March of this year, German former tennis star Andrea Petkovic brought up the subject of Emma’s recent dramatic weight loss.

On the March 18th edition of Racquet’s Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Petkovic commented, “This girl [Emma Navarro] can really play, and now she’s gotten so fit, she’s lost 5–6 pounds of body weight,” in reflection of Navarro’s progress.

On the other hand, whatever the 23-year-old tennis player has achieved on the court may have been her own talent, but she’s still grateful to her father her father. Earlier this year, Navarro talked about how her father has inspired her to keep the right mindset that is helping her to achieve greatness on the court.

Emma Navarro ‘gives a lot of credit’ to her father

Navarro never wavers in her conviction that she is “exactly where I need to be,” regardless of the outcome. She gave her father, who has been a major inspiration in her tennis career, credit for a large portion of this approach in an April 2024 interview with the Tennis Channel.

Emma Navarro stated, “I gotta give a lot of credit to my dad. He’s probably the smartest guy I know and has dropped a lot of knowledge and wisdom on my siblings and I over the years.” The American recognized that her father had played a significant role in guiding her into the tennis world as well as in molding her outlook on perseverance and achievement.

Moreover, what are your thoughts on Navarro’s amazing run at Wimbledon? Do let us know in the comment section below.