With top seeds tumbling, the door is wide open for Emma Navarro to claim a first Grand Slam title.
America’s rising star came into the tournament ranked No.10, and five of the names above her have already fallen.
Navarro brushed aside second-round opponent Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets on Thursday.
She has dropped just seven games in two matches — the joint-fewest of any female to reach the third round (tied with Amanda Anisimova) — and will face reigning champion Barbora Krejcikova in the Round of 32.
After her latest win, Navarro was asked if she would feel confident playing five sets towards the end of a tournament if the men’s and women’s formats were aligned.
“Yeah, it’s interesting. I think for me, I would probably feel pretty good playing five sets. I think I feel good about my fitness level and endurance level,” she said.
“I would be curious to see how the tour would hold up playing five sets. Yeah, I think it would be kind of fun.”
The example of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz‘s epic five-and-a-half-hour French Open final was brought up.
“I would be curious to see how the women would hold up playing for five hours, like those guys. Sinner and Alcaraz, it was an insane display of endurance and, yeah, fitness level,” Navarro, whose best run at Wimbledon was the quarter-finals in 2024, added.
“I would be curious to see how the ladies would handle it. But I think it would be kind of fun to see.”
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka — the red-hot favourite as the only top-five seed left in the women’s draw — is not a fan.
“Possibly, playing best of five sets would benefit me because I am one of the physically strongest,” she said ahead of her game against Emma Raducanu on Friday.
The American is the second richest player on tour GettySabalenka thinks three sets are enough[/caption]“But even so, I do not think I am ready for it. It is too demanding for the female body; women are not prepared to play that amount of tennis, and injuries would increase significantly.”
“So I think this is not something I would consider. I’ll leave this thing for guys to handle.”
Navarro is the daughter of Sherman Financial Group founder and CEO Ben Navarro, who has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion per Forbes.
“There will be headlines and they kind of mention that [her father’s billionaire status] which is fine, but I didn’t grow up being handed things. We grew up in a sort of traditional way,” she told Tatler magazine.
“We’d get up at 6am on a Saturday morning and go play tennis…growing up it was a priority that we learnt toughness and we learnt work ethic and how to be intentional and purposeful and live productive lives so I don’t love being referred to as whoever with however-much-money’s daughter. It’s a label I don’t really like.”
Navarro insists her dad’s biggest influence came via advice, not vast wealth.
Jessica Pegula thinks men should play three setsGetty“I gotta give a lot of credit to my dad. He’s probably the smartest guy I know and has dropped a lot of knowledge and wisdom on my siblings and me over the years. He’s taught me a bunch about the perspective I need to take,” she told the Tennis Channel.
There is only one player in the WTA better off than Navarro — compatriot Jessica Pegula, whose family own the Buffalo Bills.
Terry and Kim Pegula have an estimated net worth of over $7 billion.
Jessica, who crashed out in a stunning first-round upset, doesn’t want to see five sets in tennis — men’s or women’s.
“For me, it’s just too long. I personally lose interest in the matches. I think they’re incredible matches physically and mentally, but I’m just like, ‘Do we need that?’
“I personally will not watch a full five-hour match. People can’t even hold their attention long enough they say these days with phones. How are they holding their attention for five hours? I don’t know. Just not my thing.”
Pegula thinks best of three matches up the stakes.
“It’s a lot harder when you don’t have that much time. You get down one break, especially for the men, and you’re like, Oh, gosh, I’m kind of done. I need some luck. I need someone to choke a little bit,” she added.
“There’s a lot to needs to happen. I definitely think three-out-of-five you have way more time to turn around. You do. You have an extra set.
“I think it would be a lot easier for TV, for scheduling. I mean, TV’s always talking about making everything faster and quicker, all of that stuff. So I don’t see why. It’s been such a staple for the men. I find it hard to believe they’re ever going to change it.
“Maybe if they could also play three-out-of-five from the quarters on. I don’t know. Something like that.”
It’s a debate that promises to rage throughout the tournament.
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