US OPEN

September 3, 2024

Peter Ayers

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We will open it up to the floor.

Q. We just had the pleasure of talking to Emma. Just seems like she's in this moment where her athleticism is already there, but now this self-confidence on the court seems to be catching up even more. Wondered if you could talk about that a little bit.

PETER AYERS: Emma has always been kind of an incremental achiever, and I just think the value of all the experiences that she has gone through have just kind of gradually pushed her forward. I think today is just a by-product of that.

Q. So you're not surprised to see that composure on the court, necessarily?

PETER AYERS: No. That's been there from the first time I ever laid eyes on her. She feels it on the inside. I'm sure she maybe speaks to that, but she's always had this wonderful ability to, you know, have an amazing poker face and this sense of calm that she projects outwardly.

Q. She's talked in the past about, I can't remember what the code word that you and her use, but being purposeful with every shot.

PETER AYERS: Yeah.

Q. Like an intentionality.

PETER AYERS: Intentionality, yeah, yeah.

Q. Can you talk about that evolution for her. Because early on, you know, I can understand fitness levels are lower, confidence is lower, you're more reactive, a little bit more back there, but talk about how she's been able to try to be disciplined with each shot to take it on.

PETER AYERS: Gosh, that's a good question. Hopefully this maybe speaks to it a little bit. But, you know, it's a pretty simple process that we have. It just starts with, how am I going to get a little bit better today. How do I put myself in a position where I'm going after something always, and making sure that I'm enjoying what I'm doing while I'm doing it.

Those things are all intertwined, and that's kind of the bedrock of our philosophy. That's what we've been doing day after day after day, year after year after year. It's just been a steady process of trying to look at, okay, what's the most relevant thing in the journey now to become a little bit better today.

So I don't know if that gives you a great answer to your question, but that's kind of, that's how we go about it, and that's what's led us to this place. I don't think she's anywhere near finished growing as a player, and we'll stick with it.

Q. Emma said that what drives her is the desire for perfection, which she says she can't attain. Can she?

PETER AYERS: Well, it depends on how you define "perfection." One of the first times that we sat down together, you know, going back to when she was 14 years old, and we alluded to this, like, so you're a perfectionist, most high achievers are, and it's a good quality if it's applied in a healthy, sustainable way.

So I said, here's what I want you to strive to be perfect at. I want you to strive to be perfect at bouncing back. Stuff's going to happen. You're competing in tennis, like, there's going to be adversity every time you play.

So instead of worrying about being perfect at a given shot or playing a perfect match in terms of never missing a ball or whatever that may entail, to me, let's strive to be perfect at bouncing back.

When something adverse happens, something negative happens, you get a bad line call or you break a string or the sun is in your eyes, whatever, revel in, oh, this is great. You know, this is an opportunity to bounce back.

It's something that, you know, right at the start we try to instill. A lot of times after matches, I mean, that was a staple question. Like, whether she won or lost. How was your bounceback today? Did you have to bounce back today?

Anyway, that's my idea of perfection. She has different ideas, you know, and sometimes it is, you know, about a shot. I'm there to kind of help balance that out.

Q. When you got Emma at 14, were her strokes already pretty? Was her footwork already light? How much credit can you take for the look of her game?

PETER AYERS: I'll say this, the first time I saw her she was already a wonderful young player and had great coaching in her formative years.

I had never seen an eyes-and-hands connection like that from the first time. Then, you know, I didn't really start coaching her in a primary role until she was 14 but I helped some when she was 11, 12 years old. I remember tossing balls for her the first time I was out there with her, and it was just, like, you know, how good a connection it was. Also her willingness to just do ball after ball after ball.

I lost my train of thought just a little bit there.

Q. Her strokes, were they already there stylistically?

PETER AYERS: Yeah, there was a lot there that was unique to her. I think the biggest thing when we first started was just getting her to engage more in the interaction that was going on on the other side of the net. You know, she was so good on her side, but it was, like, hey, you know, you've got to interact with the person over there. You have to pay attention to be ready when they're hitting the ball and see what they're going to do before they do it.

In terms of movement, I think the grace and the athleticism was in there, but in terms of applying it to the exchange of hitting tennis balls back and forth, that was pretty much the first thing we tackled. But boy, it's come a long way, yeah.

Q. You were with Emma for a long time in the juniors.

PETER AYERS: Sure.

Q. And then she went away to college.

PETER AYERS: Yes.

Q. You apparently or obviously had to relinquish some of her coaching at that time. Did you find that difficult at all?

PETER AYERS: What a wonderful group they have at the University of Virginia. I can't speak highly enough of what they have going on at that school.

Just the synergy within the whole program, you know, the men's program, the women's program, the men's coaches, women's coaches. Working with them was great. I miss them. You know, we had a lot of conversations and shared a lot of thoughts. It was a wonderful time.

So, no, it wasn't difficult at all. They were so welcoming. They appreciated her goals and what she wanted to achieve, and they appreciated, I think, the history that we had together. Then on the same end, you know, getting to hear their perspective was wonderful for me too. It could not have been a better dynamic.

Q. How do you think that that's helped her, that two years in college, what do you think that's given to her going forward?

PETER AYERS: Oh, gosh. Well, No. 1 is she wasn't ready to commit to being a professional tennis player. Some of that's mentally, emotionally, and some of that's probably physically, as well. It is a huge jump from being at the top of the junior game to being a world-class professional.

You know, she looked at where she was in her life, and also where she was with her tennis, and it was a no-brainer to go to college.

So a lot of things happened. For sure, it gave her time to grow and develop as a player. That was huge. But it also gave her time to grow and develop as a person, to get away from home, you know, to break away from being a kid.

So when we started this next endeavor, our dynamic could naturally change to where, hey, Emma, you're not a 15-year-old kid anymore. You and me, we're adults, right? We will communicate like that now.

She needed to be able to break free of that. So when she was ready to take the plunge, it was the right time. You know, she had proven to herself through her college days that the game was ready for what's next. I think, you know, she had experienced the couple years in school, and she was ready for that next challenge.

Q. Where were you in that decision about leaving college and then also sort of mapping out the plan? She mentioned the sort of two-year concept. What did those two years look like to you when you sort of said, okay, we're going to sort of play these tournaments and have this sort of this is what our calendar will look like, and this is how we should be measuring?

PETER AYERS: Yeah, for sure. I think that a lot of times when players make the jump, I just think they've got to give themselves enough runway.

So when you make a two-year contract with yourself, it alleviates that whole, like, I had a great week, this is the best decision I've ever made in my life, or I get my ears pinned back by somebody who's 250 in the world, I must be crazy to think I'm playing pro tennis, I should go back to college.

I just wanted to take all that off the table and to be able to truly commit every ounce of your being in terms of your tennis, to becoming the best player you can be day by day for two years. Then when that's up, you can take a step back and see where I'm at as a player, what is that correlated to in terms of my standing of the game, what's my ranking, am I enjoying this? So anyways, that was kind of how we wanted to lay it out.

Again, the ultimate goal, and this is why I think her and I work really good together, is it's always been about just becoming the best player you can be, right? She really lives that, and I really live that.

Now, did we have, like, little ranking goals? Yeah. I said, hey, it would be really cool if after two years you were top 100 in the world. That would be a heck of an achievement. When she turned pro she was 280 in the world or something. Top 100 was a long way off.

But that wasn't the primary thing. That wasn't what was going to dictate whether she continued. It was just kind of a by-product.

Q. As a tennis connoisseur, someone who watches not just Emma but other players, and of course watches tennis Emma a lot, what would you point out to fans watching Emma play in terms of what's special about what they're seeing?

PETER AYERS: To me, she plays with a competitive grace that I think is somewhat lost in not just our sport but just in sports in general. I think she's so incredibly respectful of the game. She's so incredibly respectful of the person on the other side of the net.

She's just so graceful in how she goes about doing what she does. You know, some of that is how beautifully she moves around the court in some of the shots she hits. But it's just also in how she carries herself.

I think that's truly special, especially in an age where, you know, a lot that you see out there isn't necessarily that. It doesn't get as many clicks as some of the other antics that can go on in the competitive arena.

Q. Just for the fun of it, if the tennis gods came by and said, look, we're really busy up here, but come on, give us one story, one incident, one match practice incident that just is the quintessential Emma Navarro, what would that be?

PETER AYERS: Holy cow. There have been so many days. I mean, she's so steady. I can't express to you guys enough, like, there is not a lot of this (demonstrating ups and downs with hand).

I don't really have a good answer for you on that, other than to say she comes to me each day with this incredible steadiness and this incredible drive to leave a little bit better than she came.

Off the top of my head, I really don't have anything really good to give you other than just that.