NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 10, 2024

Emma Navarro

Press Conference

E. NAVARRO/T. Townsend

6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Who would like to ask our first question?

Q. U.S. women's tennis is in a pretty good place right now, five of you guys are in top 20 alone. Kind of curious how you guys are kind of pushing one another, and especially seeing someone, a fellow American like Coco win the US Open, how inspiring was that for someone like yourself?

EMMA NAVARRO: Yeah, it's really cool to be competing alongside fellow Americans. I had the opportunity to play Billie Jean King Cup earlier this year, and then the Olympics a couple weeks ago, and spend some more time with my fellow Americans. It's been really cool getting to know them better, and for sure seeing their success. I think it makes it fun to see familiar faces and cheer the Americans on, guys and girls. Yeah, it's really cool to see how well American tennis is doing.

Q. Obviously you've had a lot of success this season, you have the 250 title in Australia, quarterfinals at Wimbledon, where does a semi-final of a 1000 rank for you in terms of your accomplishments this season?

EMMA NAVARRO: I would say pretty highly, not only because the result itself, but also just because I feel like I've made a lot of progress in just my comfort level with being on these stages and playing in bigger matches and going further in tournaments.

Even just a few months ago I felt still a little bit out of my league, I guess, playing in bigger tournaments and making it to later rounds, now it definitely feels a lot more comfortable.

Yeah, the result definitely ranks highly, but also just, I guess, mindset-wise, just the progress I made.

Q. The conditions out there were quite tricky today. Taylor was in here today and said the difference was she felt you handled them better. How did you feel like you handled the conditions today, and what did you do to adjust to all that wind?

EMMA NAVARRO: Yeah, it was really tough, it felt like the wind was swirling. It's never easy playing against a lefty player, and she's tricky to play, she hits a very unique ball. She's a really talented player, so she definitely didn't make it easy on me.

Yeah, I feel like I just tried to stay really tough and stay really patient, especially when things got a little chaotic out there. Yeah, she was serving really well at times, and that can be a little bit unsettling, so, yeah, just tried to stay patient and keep playing my game.

Q. As a young player on the tour what are some of the things that you're doing to handle the pressure and the expectations that come with that?

EMMA NAVARRO: My coach and I go about things in a very methodical way, and I think by doing that things always seem very manageable and like they're in my control. Of course, I want to meet the expectations of fans and, I guess, just the tennis world, and also people around me, but also realizing that I'm not always going to win, I guess, and pressure is something that if I take it on in the right way I can use it to my advantage, and I can use it to sort of push myself forward and motivate myself instead of running from it. Yeah, I think I've learned to manage pressure in a better way.

Also, I just have a really great support team around me, the team that travels with me, and then also my family back home always cheering me on, so they keep me really grounded.

Q. Can you talk about your friendship or relationship with Danielle Collins, obviously you guys both went to UVA, went the college route, and how she's maybe even helped your transition to the tour.

EMMA NAVARRO: Yeah, for sure. We have very different on-court personalities, for sure, but I think she's taught me a little bit about how to just be yourself, and not everyone's going to like how you go about things, but don't let that get to you. She's, yeah, very outgoing and expressive on the court, and she's unapologetically herself, which I think is really cool.

Yeah, off court she's been just super supportive. We got to play in the Olympics together and cheer each other one, so that was really cool.

Q. A few top-10 wins for you this year, Sabalenka and Coco, like what has that done for you, confidence-wise?

EMMA NAVARRO: Yeah, I think it's definitely helped my confidence. I think it's just made me realize that I can play with the best players in the world. Obviously I have to, you know, play good tennis myself and play at a high level, but, yeah, being able to get wins over players like that has definitely motivated me to keep getting better and to play at that level consistently.