American tennis star Emma Navarro didn’t hold back when discussing Zheng Qinwen following the duo’s third-round matchup on Tuesday at the Summer Olympics in Paris.
Qinwen — the seventh-ranked women’s player in the world — defeated Navarro 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals in singles play.
“I just told her I didn’t respect her as a competitor,” Navarro said of the pair’s post-match interaction, according to a report by Yahoo Sports. “I think she goes about things in a pretty cutthroat way. It makes for a locker room that doesn’t have a lot of camaraderie, so it’s tough to face an opponent like that, who I really don’t respect.”
The 21-year-old Chinese standout made the Australian Open final in January, before falling to Aryna Sabalenka. Navarro has had a breakout 2024 season, making the third round down under, the fourth round at the French Open and the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July.
The American — ranked 15th in the WTA — added “kudos” to Qinwen and said that her opponent “played some good tennis there at the end” and “played better than me, so congrats to her.”
According to the report, Qinwen praised Navarro as a “great opponent” and addressed the criticism as well.
“She told me she doesn’t know how I have a lot of fans,” she said. “It looks like she’s not happy with my behavior towards her. If she’s not happy about my behavior, she can come and tell me. I would like to correct it to become a better player and a better person.”
Qinwen added that she was “glad (Navarro) told (her) that.”
“I will not consider it an attack because she lost the match,” she said.