Off the court, she has a close-knit group of friends far removed from tennis in her corner. She also has her family, father Ben being a billionaire banking and business mogel who owns the Charleston Open and the rights to the Cincinnati Open. Despite his involvement in tennis, Navarro says her status as a tennis player is secondary to her family dynamic.
She reveals: “My best friends don’t play tennis. A lot of them just graduated school and are figuring out what they want to do with their lives.
“Then my family, they obviously support me to no end, but at the end of the day I’m their daughter, their sister before I’m a tennis player. I have a lot of really great people around me that keep me grounded and don’t let my head get too big.”
While it has so far been a steady rise, Navarro can take a huge leap to prominence if she is able to beat Gauff again, this time in the U.S. Open. But there’s still a long way to go in pursuit of glory, with their clash coming in just the fourth round.
“It’s really exciting,” she says. “I said it on the court. I think it’s so exciting to have two Americans playing in the fourth round.
“I’m assuming we’ll be playing on Arthur Ashe. That’s kind of an experience that is something I could have never even dreamed of. I’m playing the defending champ.
“I think it will be a great match, and I’m just really excited for the opportunity.”
