Scrappy and stubborn – that’s how Emma Navarro described herself on middle Saturday after knocking out the defending Wimbledon ladies' singles champion, Barbora Krejcikova, in three sets.

The self-effacing Navarro is the world No.10 and the fourth highest ranked woman in the USA, at a time when American tennis is in a position of great strength and depth and Coco Gauff is the Roland-Garros champion.

Like Jessica Pegula, Navarro comes from an influential sporting family, but she is as grounded as any of the players she enjoys competing against.

Navarro says she gets her ‘chill’ side from her mother, Kelly, and her competitive side from father, Ben – a businessman who is the owner of two tournaments in the USA, Charleston and Cincinnati.

She recalls being taken on long bike rides as a child by her enthusiastic father, who led the family on gruelling routes involving many hills. The Navarro children dubbed these outings 'biking and crying' and often didn’t find them quite as enjoyable as they were no doubt meant to be.

Looking back, the 24-year-old says she believes these challenges built up her resilience, and have helped her in her career, which has brought her a great deal of success in a short time.

Despite being a successful junior and reaching the business end of the first three junior Grand Slams in 2019, Navarro decided to go to the University of Virginia, where she studied Arts & Science and played collegiate tennis. In her first (freshman) year, she won the 2021 NCAA Singles Championship, meaning she was the best female on the entire US College tennis scene.

A year later, Navarro broke into the top 200; in 2023 she was No.38 in the world; and last year she was voted WTA Most Improved Player of the Year. 

She finished the year as world No.8, with a singles record of 54-24. That included winning her first WTA career title in Hobart, just before the Australian Open.

She has become known for her strong frame of mind, ability to win long and difficult matches and never-say-die attitude, all of which were on display against Krejcikova.

"I think, just naturally, I'm very stubborn, I guess you could say," she said. "I try to use that stubbornness to my advantage. I think I'm also really tough on myself. The combination of those two make me really tough. It's something I take a lot of pride in,  being tough and fighting till the last point no matter what the circumstances are."

Going down a hill on a bicycle doesn’t take much effort, but going up, that’s a completely different story and Navarro is used to pedalling hard.

"I could never live with myself if I ever gave up. It's just not in my nature. I don't think it's in any of my family members' nature to ever give up on anything. I guess we're a stubborn bunch."

Against the Czech, Navarro was down a set and a break in the second set and went into troubleshooting mode: "Just try to make her as uncomfortable as I could.

"I regrouped a little, tried to slow things down a bit from my side and make her look at some different shots."

Navarro mixed things up with the use of underspin. "My slice is coming along pretty nicely. I'm able to use that to my advantage," she said. "I played scrappy at times; played tough. Hit some good groundstrokes, as well. I feel pretty good about where I'm at."

Krejcikova ended up hitting 34 winners (to Navarro’s 13,) but also made 53 unforced errors.

The disruptor tactics will no doubt continue on Monday as Navarro attempts to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for a second successive year. It won't be easy as her opponent is the wily teenager and No.7 seed, Mirra Andreeva.

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