Billionaire tennis heiress shows true colours speaking about her father's massive wealth

Emma Navarro is eager to distance herself from the 'billionaire heiress' tag that has followed her throughout her career to date. And she's hoping a Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon will help her do just that.

The American is through to the second round of the London major after beating Petra Kvitova in her Wimbledon farewell. The reward for that triumph is a matchup against Veronika Kudermetova, whom she'll face on Thursday. It's only natural tennis fans take an interest in the £3.5billion empire Navarro's parents, Ben and Kelly, have built in the financial sector, per Forbes. After all, it's not every day someone with access to a 10-figure fortune makes it big in any sports arena.

But Emma, who knocked Coco Gauff out of Wimbledon last year, is keen to let her tennis do the talking and prove she hasn't received any legs up in reaching the pinnacle of her field. And when it comes to her craft, the New York-born star is assured she has earned her place on merit, just like any of her peers.

"I don't read anything. I don't read the comments, the articles, any of that stuff," she told Tatler magazine. "I don't know what the fans are saying.

"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.

"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, 24, is second only to Jessica Pegula when it comes to the richest active players on the circuit. Pegula's dad, Terry, is worth an estimated £5.5bn and will inevitably hand a healthy chunk of that to his daughter, who has also earned her own on-court plaudits.

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It's a drop in the ocean compared to her father's wealth, but Navarro has earned an impressive £3.4million playing on the WTA Tour to date. That includes two tournament wins over the past 18 months: the Hobart International in January 2024 and the Merida Open this past March.

So dedicated is Navarro to her craft that she has even put love on hold to focus entirely on her career. However, she's not against the idea of ditching the single lifestyle now as she added: "Tennis is it, for now. We'll see. My heart's open, let's put it that way."