Is Emma Navarro possibly the most complete player in women’s tennis?

It’s beginning to look like that’s a possibility. It might take a few months or a year or so to secure that image.

But Emma Navarro has been a fast mover among the WTA pros since joining them just over two years ago.

NAVARRO SHINES ALL OVER THE COURT

Why is Navarro possibly the tour’s most complete player? All you have to do to consider that possibility is to look at her dominance of Coco Gauff in a straight-set victory over the world’s No. 2 player in Wimbledon’s round of 16.

Navarro is quick, talented and fast, but not lightning fast. She just covers the court better than most of the top players. It’s all about her technique and movement on the court. She covers the court like a blanket.

And she goes for winners most of the time when she arrives on the ball. It was difficult for even the power-hitting Gauff to hit a winner against Navarro.

TOTAL PRECISION IS HER GAME

Navarro hits backhands and forehands with total precision and power, seldom committing errors. She hits great drop shots as if she’s been taking lessons from Carlos Alcaraz.

An opponent has to be sure not to put the ball in the air going for an easy winner. Navarro hits solid overheads with power, seldom missing one.

Against Gauff, Navarro even leaped in the air going away from the net and delivered an impressive backwards volley. 

About the only place Navarro can improve might be her serve, although she seldom double-faults and has solid placement. Bigger serves might help her to win points quicker, but her serve was working just fine against Gauff as she actually had a better day serving than the powerful Gauff.

NAVARRO’S THINKING GAME

Navarro is a thinking star. Her secret against Gauff was mixing up her serves and keeping Gauff off balance most of the match.

There doesn’t seem to be any one area of Navarro’s game that’s vulnerable.

I can remember all the years when Navarro was a standout junior, actually winning a Junior French Open doubles title with long-time partner Chloe Beck in 2019, and also being a singles finalist at that event.

At the time, I covered tennis for the Charleston newspaper, and I depended heavily on Navarro’s thorough reports on her out-of-town matches. As for her local matches at her father’s LTP Tennis facility in Mount Pleasant, S.C., I didn’t need to interview Navarro. She provided her own critiques of her matches for my recorder. I readily accepted them.

A STAR ON THE RISE

Navarro looked like a star of the future even then. And she’s been a rising star since.

Since the start of 2023, she has risen 126 places in the WTA rankings to No. 17 in the world, and the 23-year-old now owns a live ranking of No. 14 as a result of her quarterfinal berth at Wimbledon.

Of course, she could climb much higher with the big ranking points that could be hers in the next week.

After Navarro’s 6-4, 6-3 win over Gauff in 74 minutes in Sunday’s round of 16 and the collapse of eight of the world’s top 10 players, Navarro appears to have as much of a chance to win a Wimbledon title as anyone left in the women’s draw.

Current No. 4 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Jasmine Paolini are the only top 10 women left at Wimbledon, and Paolini will be Navarro’s quarterfinal opponent.

If Navarro’s stardom continues to sparkle as it did against former Grand Slam winners Gauff and Naomi Osaka, the rest of Wimbledon could be one big shining moment for Emma Navarro.

She’s a star now!

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James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award  for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com. 

Jasmine Paolini will always remember how she sealed her place in the last eight at Wimbledon but the reason why is unfortunate. 

The Italian was locked in a hard-fought battle against the more experienced Maidson Keys. For more than two hours they sternly tested each other with Paolini down 1-5 in the second frame before fighting back to draw level before the same scenario occurred in the decider. However, the roller-coaster battle came to a sad ending with Keys being forced to call it quits at 5-5 in the final set due to a leg injury she picked up during the match.

“I hope she recovers soon. I think we played a really good match.” Paolini said during her press conference.
“I was trying to fight for every point because you never know on grass if you are up or if you are down, every match can I think turn. I was, like, just be focused and try to win points, to play points by point.”

Paolini’s run comes during what is a breakout season for her. Earlier this year she won her first WTA 1000 title in Dubai before going on to reach her first major final at Roland Garros. She has scored wins over top 10 players Ons Jabeur (Stuttgart) and Elena Rybakina (French Open). Her latest milestone is becoming the first Italian woman in the Open Era to reach the quarter-finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. 

“It’s a little bit also strange to be in this position because I’ve never been in this position.” She said of her rise in the sport.
“I always thought it would be great to be in this position. Now I’m here winning more matches this year.
“It’s important to me to enjoy every moment because it’s a dream. Also, I think a privilege to play these kinds of matches on these courts.”

So far at Wimbledon, the 28-year-old has only dropped one set in four matches played. Earlier in the tournament she defeated former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, Greet Minnen and Sara Sorribes Tormo. Before 2024, she had never won a main draw match at the tournament. 

Admitting that she is surprised by her surge in the sport, Paolini now has a match against either Coco Gauff or Emma Navarro to prepare for. Two players she has yet to defeat on the Tour. 

“I think every match is different. I’m going to step on the court trying to play my game to try to beat one of them. But it’s not going to be easy because I think both of them are playing unbelievable.” She concluded. 

Iga Swiatek says she has learned a lesson after being knocked out in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday. 

The world No.1 fell in three sets to Yulia Putintseva, who she had previously never lost to before on the Tour. Her defeat brings an end to her 21-match winning streak and it is the second time this year she last lost in the third round of a major event after the Australian Open. Despite having a resume that includes 22 WTA trophies, Swiatek is still yet to contest a Tour-level final on the grass. 

As to what went wrong for the Pole in her latest match, she blames a lack of rest following her triumph at the French Open. Something she said made her feel like she was running on empty. 

“My tank of pushing myself to the limits became suddenly empty,” she said. 
“I was kind of surprised. But I know what I did wrong after Roland Garros. I didn’t rest properly and I’m not going to make this mistake again.
“After such a tough clay court season, I really must have my recovery. I thought that I was going to be able to kind of play at the same level. I feel like on grass I need a little bit more of that energy to keep being patient and accept some mistakes.”

Swiatek adds that she didn’t do well mentally at Wimbledon which she also blamed on the lack of rest. The 23-year-old has spoken numerous times about the importance of mental health in tennis and sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz has been part of her team for a few years. 

“I literally came back to work – not tennis-wise, but off-court stuff – and I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe next year I’mgoing to take a vacation and literally just do nothing.” Swiatek said of what she did between the French Open and Wimbledon. 
“We planned the year that way so I don’t have to do a lot before the Olympics.” She added. 

Swiatek’s focus will now turn to the Paris Olympics that will be taking place at Roland Garros this summer.