Emma Navarro To Qinwen Zheng: "I Don't Respect You as a Competitor"

Emma Navarro and Qinwen Zheng exchanged trash-talk after their match.

Emma Navarro and Qinwen Zheng argued after the match. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday afternoon, Qinwen Zheng defeated Emma Navarro in the third round of the Olympics women's singles tennis tournament. Zheng took the match in three sets: 6-7(7), 7-6(4), 6-1.

The battle between the two fiery competitors did not end with the match. Navarro and Zheng exchanged trash talk at the net, and later shared what was said with the media.

Navarro said, "I just told her I didn't respect her as a competitor. I think she goes about things in a pretty cut-throat 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."

Navarro added, "But, kudos to her, she played some good tennis there at the end. She played better than me, so congrats to her."

Emma Navarro told Qinwen Zheng she doesn’t respect her as a competitor:

"I just told her I didn't respect her as a competitor.”

"I think she goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way. It makes for a locker room that doesn't have a lot of camaraderie, so it's tough to face an… pic.twitter.com/90yBY0Bays

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 30, 2024

Chinese fans were loud throughout the match, and apparently, that surprised Navarro. Zheng shared, "She told me she doesn't know how I have a lot of fans."

Zheng continued, "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."

Zheng concluded, "I'm glad that she told me that. I will not consider it an attack because she lost the match."

Zheng will face Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals. Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated's Serve on SI for all the most important news from the sport and beyond.

Further Reading: Coco Gauff wants tennis to adopt a video assistant referee system like soccer.