Emma Navarro defeated Coco Gauff during round 4 of Wimbledon over the weekend. Coco, 20, has lost in the fourth round of Wimbledon more than once in the past five years. During a post-game press conference, Emma, 23, called her victory a “real honor.”
“I don’t have a ton of words, but just really grateful to be out here on Centre Court, at a tournament with so much history and tradition that so many legends have played on before me,” Emma said, according to multiple outlets. “I love matches like that where it feels like it’s not just a hitting or striking competition. There’s strategy involved and it feels like a chess match or something, so that was really enjoyable for me.”
The athlete added that she “played really aggressively” against Coco, calling the fellow U.S. tennis star “an amazing player.”
“Coco’s obviously an amazing player. I have a ton of respect for her and what she’s done at such a young age is really amazing,” Emma said, according to ESPN. “I knew she wasn’t going to make it easy on me tonight. But I wanted to play aggressively and push back against her game and I think I was able to do that.”
Emma won 6-4, 6-3 in this round. During their match, Coco was seen looking at the guest box, where her coaches were positioned. After the game ended, Coco opened up about what went down on the court.
“We had a game plan going in, and I felt that it wasn’t working,” she pointed out. “I don’t always ask for advice from the box, but today was one of those moments where I felt like I didn’t have solutions. Mentally it was a lot going on, and I felt like I wanted more direction.”
Once their match ended, Emma and Coco hugged it out on the court. Emma is slated to play against Jasmine Paolini in the next round of Wimbledon.
Wimbledon 2024 was the third time that Coco lost in the fourth round of the tournament. In 2019 and 2021, she was eliminated after round 4, according to multiple outlets. In 2022, Coco lost during the third round of Wimbledon, and in 2023, she was knocked out of Wimbledon following the first round.