Life after college: Navarro keen to follow in Collins' footsteps
Emma Navarro is hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow University of Virginia alumnus Danielle Collins after leaving college to focus on tennis full time.
The 21-year-old American made her debut as a full-professional on the ITF World Tennis Tour at W100 Charleston last week after two seasons playing college tennis in Charlottesville.
During her time as a 'Virginia Cavalier', Navarro was crowned 2021 NCAA Singles Champion and earned all-American honours in both singles and doubles, but is now ready to focus her attention solely on the professional tour after deciding against returning to study Arts and Sciences for a third year.
Collins also excelled in tennis at the University of Virginia, having twice been crowned NCAA singles champion and winning the Honda Sports Award for the nation's best female tennis player in 2016. The world No. 8 has become a significant role model for Navarro as she plots her next steps in tennis.
“She went to college for four years and is now obviously doing amazing things on the tour,” Navarro said of Collins, a runner-up at January's Australian Open. “I think her journey is pretty cool and it’s definitely inspiring for me.”
A hugely promising junior having climbed to world No. 3 in the girls' rankings back in 2019, Navarro finished runner-up to Leylah Fernandez in the 2019 Roland Garros girls’ singles final and won the doubles title on the Parisian clay that same year alongside compatriot Chole Beck, with whom she also finished a runner-up at the Australian Open. Navarro won four singles and six doubles titles in total on the junior tour, and is ready to kick on with her transition to the professional realm.
After a more domesticated approach to the sport in recent years (49 of the 55 professional events she has contested in her career to date have been on American soil), the world No. 253 is keen to spread her wings and climb the rankings.
“It’s kind of crazy travelling around all the time, playing in such different environments, but I love it and it’s what I want to be doing,” said Navarro, who credits her father, billionaire businessman Ben Navarro, for encouraging her interest and early development in the sport.
“My Dad got my siblings and I into tennis,” she said. “I was around three years old when I started playing. Both of my older brothers played and it was kind of a family thing that we liked to do together.
“Before I was old enough to hold a racket I would run around and pick up balls for my brothers. I think I was around 15 when I played my first ITF pro level event – it was like a 10k or a 15k. I remember feeling way out of my league, but I really enjoyed it and I went from there.”
Navarro enjoyed several milestone moments last year, making her Grand Slam debut as a wild card at the US Open before collecting her first professional singles title at W25 Orlando in November.
The ITF World Tennis Tour – particularly the events at W60, W80 and W100 level – provide the perfect platform to hone her craft with an eye on a more regular place in WTA and Grand Slam main draws in future.
“The margins are so thin between [ITF] W100, W80 and the [WTA] Tour level events,” she admitted. “I think [the ITF Tour] is super valuable and definitely a great place to start your career and try to move to the next level.”
“I think I’ve got a lot mentally tougher as well as physically [as a result of playing these events],” she continued. “There are so many good players out here that are going to challenge you every day.
"Playing against that all the time sort of forces you to become better physically and mentally. It’s not easy competing against them so it forces you to get better in all aspects of the game.”
Navarro plays her second tournament as a full professional at the W60 Amstelveen ITF World Tennis Tour event this week in Netherlands. Follow all the latest scores from the tournament here.