Emma Navarro is soaking up every moment of her European journey on the WTA Tour. The American tennis star, fresh off her second-round win at the 2025 Italian Open, opened up about balancing life on the road with homesickness.
Emma is the daughter of billionaires Ben and Kelly Navarro and the granddaughter of former football coach Frank Navarro.
Emma Navarro Reaches the Third Round at the Italian Open for the First Time
The 23-year-old Charleston native is making her second career appearance at the prestigious WTA 1000 event in Rome. Seeded 10th this year, Navarro earned a first-round bye and then powered past Russian qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova in straight sets to book her spot in the third round. Now set to face Denmark’s Clara Tauson on May 11, Navarro is entering new territory, having never reached this stage of the tournament before.
Navarro will lock horns with Clara Tauson for the second time on the WTA Tour, with the Dane holding a 1-0 head-to-head record against the American. The winner of this match will face either the 30th seed, Linda Noskova, or the seventh seed, Mirra Andreeva, in the Round of 16.
In a candid post-match interview with Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj, Navarro shared how she’s managing the emotional toll of being away from home during the long European stretch.
“For sure. There’s times when I miss home, my family and friends back home. And I love Charleston. It’s probably my favorite city in the world. I’m taking things in every day, and I feel like I’m doing new exciting things every day,” Emma Navarro said.
“There’s always a new adventure and new things to do every week, every city we go to. So I’m still feeling pretty bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on tour. And yeah, I’m having fun.”
Emma Navarro Soaks Up the Sights and Flavors of Europe Amid Italian Open Campaign
Emma Navarro said every week feels like a new adventure, and she loves exploring cities like a local, biking through backstreets and even attending soccer games in Madrid and Rome.
“I call it playing around town. I love to play in new cities and see new things, and kind of get out of it. I went to a soccer game in Madrid and then here as well. So that was really fun. And I love to see new cities on foot and just kind of see the city from a normal tourist perspective. Seeing the sights is great, but I love to be on back streets and back alleys and lime bike around and just kind of be a regular person,” Emma Navarro said.
Navarro also gushed about Italian food, joking that the pasta, pizza, and an over-the-top gelato order could be “bad news” if she lived there.
“The food in Italy is insane. I don’t even know where to start. If I lived here, that’d be bad news for me. The pasta is insane, pizza, had some good gelato a few nights ago. The guy ended up selling me a triple scoop gelato with whipped cream, and I think there were three or four cones inside on the top and wafers. It was absolutely ridiculous,” she added.