US Open star doubles down on angry row after telling rival ‘I don’t respect you’ | Tennis | Sport
Emma Navarro has doubled down on her scathing criticism of Qinwen Zheng after she reached the semi-finals of the US Open.
The American could face the world number 7 in the next round. They met just a few weeks ago at the Olympic Games, where Navarro told Zheng that she “didn’t respect” her.
Ahead of another potential showdown, the 13th seed backed up her comments and explained why she had a falling out with the Olympic champion.
Navarro beat Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5 to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals, where she will face the winner of the match between second seed Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng. If the seventh seed advances, it will be no surprise to see them step onto the court.
The American was just one set away from beating her when they met in the third round of the Olympics, but the 21-year-old stormed back to win 6-7(7) 7-6(4) 6-1. Navarro had plenty to say as they shook hands at the net, while her opponent shrugged and looked baffled.
Afterwards, Navarro confessed: “I just told her that I don’t respect her as a competitor… I think she’s pretty ruthless about things. That means there’s not a lot of camaraderie in the locker room, and it’s tough to compete against an opponent like her who I really don’t respect.”
And the world No. 12 has no regrets about her blunt comments, claiming she would have said the same thing if she had won and branded Zheng disrespectful. When asked to explain her comments in Paris, Navarro replied: “Yes. I don’t want to go into too much detail with that.”
“But I think during that game and, you know, on the practice court and the last few times I’ve played against her, because we’ve played against each other since we were young, I felt a little disrespected by her. You know, like I said, I don’t want to go into too much detail. But yeah, I think she didn’t necessarily treat me or the sport with respect. That’s why I said what I said after the game. But, yeah, that’s it.”
Navarro is known for her calm, almost stoic demeanor on the court, so her argument with Zheng surprised many. But the 23-year-old was not surprised by her reaction. “No, I haven’t spoken to her since. And no, I wasn’t surprised myself. I felt that way the whole game,” she said.
“Even if I had won, I probably would have said the same thing. You know, it wasn’t an emotional thing in the moment, it was just how I felt. I think it got a lot more attention than I thought it would. Yeah, I think maybe it’s just one person’s opinion. Yeah, it wasn’t an emotional outburst. It was just a factual statement of how I felt.”
At the time, Zheng took the criticism calmly. “She told me she didn’t know how I had so many fans. It looks like she wasn’t happy with my behavior towards her. If she’s not happy with my behavior, she can come to me and tell me,” she said.
“I want to correct that to become a better player and a better person. I’m glad she told me that. I won’t take it as an attack because she lost the game.”
