Emma Navarro opens up about Olympic beef with rival Zheng Qinwen at 2024 US Open

NEW YORK—Emma Navarro isn’t known for expressing outsized emotions on the tennis court, which made the tense words she exchanged with Zheng Qinwen at the Summer Olympic Games all the more memorable.

At the US Open on Tuesday, the thirteenth-seeded American opened up about the viral moment from Paris where, according to Zheng, “[Navarro] told me she doesn’t know how I have a lot of fans.”

Zheng had just rallied from a set down to beat Navarro, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (4), 6-1. But speaking after reaching the semifinals of the US Open, Navarro, who went on to describe Zheng as “cut-throat” to the Olympic media, insisted her remarks weren’t spur of the moment.

I think she didn't necessarily treat me or the sport with respect. That's why I said what I said after the match. Emma Navarro on Zheng Qinwen

“I felt that way the whole match,” she recalled after reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. “Even if I had won, I probably would have said the same thing.”

Earlier in press, Navarro, who was fresh off a straight-set victory over former world No. 2 Paula Badosa, intimated that she and Zheng shared history from their days on the junior circuit, where they played three times at big events: twice in 2018 at the Eddie Herr International Junior Championships and the Orange Bowl, and once in 2019 at Roland Garros.

“I don't want to go super into the weeds with it,” she explained. “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.

“You know, I don't want to, like I said, go too into detail with it. 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 match. But, yeah, that's it.”

Navarro and Zheng could face off in the US Open semifinals on Thursday provided Zheng, the No. 7 seed who went on to win Olympic gold in Paris, defeats No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in their quarterfinal Tuesday evening.

At the time, Zheng said she would not take Navarro’s words personally and expressed a desire to speak privately about their apparent issues. Navarro confirmed they have not spoken since the Olympics.

“You know, maybe it's just one person's opinion. Yeah, it wasn't an emotional outburst. It was just kind of matter of factually how I felt.”

Zheng leads their tour-level head-to-head 2-0, though both of those meetings were on clay.