The billionaire US tennis star for whom Wimbledon's £3m prize pot is pocket money: New Yorker Emma Navarro, 23, stands to inherit £3.5BILLION from her tech tycoon father - and she's had fair share of on-court spats

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

Wimbledon handed tennis stars a major boost in the build-up to this year's tournament by announcing a record prize pot of £53.5million, with singles champions set to take home a cool £3m.
The sum represents an increased on the £2.7m taken home by last year's champions Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova, but the Wimbledon title would prove more more significant for one star than the prize money at the All England Club.
US star Emma Navarro, who was raised in New York, boasts a personal fortune so vast that the tournament's prize money will be like short change.
Emma is the daughter of wealthy American billionaire investment tycoon, Ben Navarro, and the tennis star is quietly sitting on a £3billion ($3.8bn) inheritance.
Tycoon Ben, 62, married to Emma's mother Kelly, built his billionaire empire thanks to numerous business ventures, most notably being the founder and owner of Sherman Financial Group, which has assets such as Credit One Bank.
Despite her affluent background, Navarro has put the work in on the court to have risen to a career high ranking of eighth in the world last September.
The 24-year-old's rise followed a career best run of Grand Slam results having reached the third and fourth round respectively at the Australian and French Opens, before reaching the last eight at SW19.
Her run to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon included a stunning win over Coco Gauff, before she was beaten by the eventual tournament runner-up Jasmine Paolini.
Navarro's best Grand Slam performance, however, came later in the year when she reached the US Open semi-finals in front of a home crowd but fell to the eventual champion Ayrna Sabalenka in straight sets.
A quarter-final run at this year's Australian Open and a first WTA 500 title in Mexico in March have seen Navarro's own personal winnings from the sport reach $4.6m (£3.4m).
Navarro had previously ground her way through the challenging US college tennis circuit before turning pro and the American has not been afraid to take on rivals on the court when she has felt the need.
She generated headlines during last year's Olympic Games in Paris after being embroiled in a post-match spat with Chinese star Zheng Qinwen.
After losing in three sets to the Zheng in the third round of the women's singles event, Navarro grasped her opponents hand during the handshake and had a tense exchange with the Chinese star.
Navarro was seen shaking her head after exchanging words with Zheng, who would ultimately go on to claim the Olympic title.
The pair posed together at a tournament in March last year before the spat, with Navarro claiming later that Zheng 'didn't necessarily treat me or the sport with respect'
In her post-match comments, Navarro did not pull any punches about her view of Zheng, accusing her of being 'cut-throat' and added she was a player she doesn't respect.
'I think she goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way,' Navarro said. 'It makes for a locker room that doesn't have a lot of camaraderie, so it's tough to face an opponent like that, who I really don't respect.
'But, kudos to her, she played some good tennis there at the end. She played better than me, so congrats to her.'
When asked about Navarro's comments, Zheng responded: 'She told me she doesn't know how I have a lot of fans.
'It looks like she's not happy with my behaviour toward her. If she's not happy about my behaviour, she can come and tell me. I would like to correct it to become a better player and a better person.'
In a perceived dig at Navarro, Zheng then added: 'I'm glad that she told me that, I will not consider it an attack because she lost the match.'
Navarro and Zheng has yet to meet since, with the pair narrowly avoiding a showdown at the US Open when the Chinese star was beaten in the quarter-finals by Sabalenka.
With Navarro addressing the media prior to Zheng and Sablanenka's match, she was again asked about her comments at the Olympics and doubled down on her forthright opinion of her rival.
Despite Navarro's comments, Zheng would ultimately go on to be crowned Olympic champion
'I don't want to go super into the weeds with it, but I think during that match and, you know, on the practice court and the last few times I've played her, I felt just a little bit disrespected by her' Navarro said.
'I think she didn't necessarily treat me or the sport with respect. That's why I said what I said after the match. But, yeah, that's it.
She added: 'I haven't spoken to her since and no, I didn't surprise myself, I felt that way the whole match.
'Even if I had won, I probably would have said the same thing. It wasn't a sort of in the moment, emotional thing. It was kind of just how I felt. And I think it got a lot more attention than I thought it was going to.
'I think maybe it's just one person's opinion, but it wasn't an emotional outburst. It was kind of just matter of fact, how I felt.'
With fans awaiting the next meeting between the pair, all eyes will be on the Wimbledon draw to see when Zheng and Navarro could potential clash. A meeting would undoubtedly be high-profile due to the pair being seeded fifth and ninth respectively, meaning a showdown would be in the latter stages of the tournament.
Zheng recently fell foul of British fans at Queen's when she overcame Emma Raducanu, after the Chinese star opted to change her shoes when the home favourite was attempting to save a break point, prompting boos from spectators.
The competitive spirit shown by Navarro has run through her family, as her grandfather was ex-Ivy League footballer turned coach Frank Navarro. He was widely heralded for his work at America's most prestigious colleges including Princeton and Columbia.
The 23-year-old is not the only athlete in the Navarro family, her grandfather Frank Navarro was a former American college footballer turned coach
Frank served as a head coach for Williams College, Columbia University, Wabash College and Princeton University and even introduced the 'Monster Defence' at Williams.
Navarro has offered fans glimpses at her life on and off the court through her Instagram, with her following having soared after impressive results over the past year and a half on tour.
After heading into last year's Wimbledon with a following of 40,000, there are now over 240,000 tracking her life and progress. Navarro's account is dedicated mostly to the sport she loves, with the odd glimpse into a more luxe life via shots of boutiques and her jet-set life on the Women's tennis tour.
There's also plenty of photos of the family pets, including Marti, a shaggy haired black and white dog that seems to hold a special place in Emma's heart.
Although the American will be hoping to impress again at Wimbledon, there's certainly no financial pressure firing her on; the impressive family purse means she could retire in luxury tomorrow if she wanted to.
Ben has also showed interest in his daughter's passion, investing in the tennis world first purchasing Charlestown Tennis LLC through his Beemok Sports company on 2018 - which holds the longest-running women-only tennis tournament, the Charlestown Open.
Before splashing out nearly $300milliion (£237m) in 2022 to obtain the Western and Southern Open, which is a major tennis tournament.
The Western and Southern Open saw 19 of the top 20 tennis players compete at the competition back in 2022 and is one of only nine tennis events that is recognised globally as a top-tier tournament for both men and women players.
Regardless of her result at Wimbledon, Navarro already has a financial security most players can only dream of before their playing days come to a close.
Navarro is reportedly in line to inherit an estimated £3.5billion ($4.8bn) which towers over the tennis greats such as Roger Federer $550m (£401m), Rafael Nadal $220m (£160m) and Novak Djokovic $240m (£175m).