1978 US Open runner-up and Donna Vekic’s mentor Pam Shriver shut down criticism directed at Emma Navarro over the American tennis star signing up for a WTA 125 tournament in Hong Kong, suggesting that if anyone has problems with that then should blame the schedule.
On Friday, the sixth-seeded American suffered a shock exit at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing after world No. 595 Zhang Shuai upset her 6-4 6-2. After seeing her China Open campaign end way earlier than she probably anticipated. the 2024 US Open semifinalist accepted a very late wildcard into this week’s event in Hong Kong.
“Hey, guys. Emma Navarro here. Just wanted you to know I am gonna be playing at the 125 here in Hong Kong next week. Really excited to be here and hopefully gonna see this city a little bit and play some great tennis so looking forward to see you guys there,” Navarro announced via a video clip.
Since the WTA 125 level is basically the same as the Challenger level on the ATP Tour, some were left surprised to see a top-10 player accepting to play there but some also had strong reactions and criticized the 23-year-old as some felt she was “stealing” a spot from a lower-ranked player.
One of those who reacted was tennis podcaster Myles David – who didn’t criticize Navarro – but just publicly wondered how it was possible for a top-10 player to enter a WTA 125 tournament and be the top seed there.
“Can someone explain to me how Emma Navarro, currently the 8th best player on the women’s tennis tour, is a top seed at a Challenger level (below top tier) tournament in Hong Kong next week?” he asked.
Shriver answers why Navarro made that move
Since the world No. 8 lost in Beijing on September 27th and the Wuhan Open is starting on October 7th, she would go 10 days without action if she didn’t sign up for any of this week’s tournaments. After making that clear, Shriver suggested that Vekic would have done the same had she lost to Viktorija Golubic in her opening match at the China Open.
“We thought about playing this challenger too if a first-round loss in Beijing. These 1000s over two weeks can mean a long wait until next tournament. Playing the 125 is smart,” Shriver explained.
With the current rules on the Tour, top-10 stars are very limited when it comes to competing in the WTA 250 category – which is the lowest part of the main level. That’s probably one of the reasons why some were shocked after seeing Navarro in Hong Kong.
But after checking the rules book, David realized that in these circumstances, there was nothing that was blocking the world No. 8 from entering this week’s Challenger event.
“That makes sense. I hadn’t really sat with the fact that Beijing was also more than just a 1 week 1000 and what the options are like for players who lose earlier on. And now i see it’s kind of baked into the rules to allow that flexibility for players,” the podcaster added.
“It was tough to see her going through the streak, but honestly through it all you would have never noticed she was going through that. I’ve seen her literally five minutes after matches and she would still say hi to me and be so excited to see me, which, I’m not like that after I lose. That just shows the type of person she is. I’ve learned a lot from her,” the world No. 6 told WTA Insider.
Navarro suffered one of the most shocking defeats of the 2024 season in Beijing
Since Zhang was on a 24-match losing streak and way out of making the cut for a WTA 1000 tournament, she made the China Open draw as a wildcard. At this point, she was inching closer to tying or breaking Madeleine Pegel’s WTA record of 29 consecutive losses on the WTA Tour.
But by stunning the No. 4 seed, the 35-year-old Chinese made sure one of the most negative records on the Tour would remain as it is.
For the American tennis star, it was certainly not the start she was hoping to have in Asia. With that being said, there is doubt that Navarro will try to do much better in Hong Kong, where she starts by taking on Golubic in the first round.
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