American tennis star Emma Navarro did not maintain again when discussing Zheng Qinwen following the duo’s third-round matchup on Tuesday on the Summer season Olympics in Paris.
Qinwen — the seventh-ranked girls’s participant on this planet — defeated Navarro 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals in singles play.
“I simply advised her I did not respect her as a competitor,” Navarro mentioned of the pair’s post-match interplay, in line with a report by Yahoo Sports. “I feel she goes about issues in a reasonably cutthroat method. It makes for a locker room that does not have a number of camaraderie, so it is powerful to face an opponent like that, who I actually do not respect.”
The 21-year-old Chinese language standout made the Australian Open closing in January, earlier than falling to Aryna Sabalenka. Navarro has had a breakout 2024 season, making the third spherical down beneath, the fourth spherical on the French Open and the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July.
The American — ranked fifteenth within the WTA — added “kudos” to Qinwen and mentioned that her opponent “performed some good tennis there on the finish” and “performed higher than me, so congrats to her.”
Based on the report, Qinwen praised Navarro as a “nice opponent” and addressed the criticism as effectively.
“She advised me she does not know the way I’ve a number of followers,” she mentioned. “It appears like she’s not pleased with my habits in direction of her. If she’s not pleased about my habits, she will be able to come and inform me. I wish to right it to turn out to be a greater participant and a greater particular person.”
Qinwen added that she was “glad (Navarro) advised (her) that.”
“I can’t contemplate it an assault as a result of she misplaced the match,” she mentioned.
