Even though it’s not a Grand Slam competition, the intensity is still present in Olympic tennis matches. Following her defeat against Qinwen Zheng of China in the third round of the Roland Garros women’s singles competition on Tuesday, American Emma Navarro didn’t hold back when criticizing her opponent.
Following the conclusion of the three-hour match — which saw Zheng win 6-7, 7-6 and 6-1 — the duo reportedly had an emotional dispute at the net, which boiled over into postgame media comments.
“I just told her I didn’t respect her as a competitor,” the 23-year-old Navarro said. “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.”
Zheng, ranked seventh in the world, didn’t seem to be phased by the scathing words.
“She told me she doesn’t know how I have a lot of fans,” Zheng, 21, said. “It looks like she’s not happy with my behaviour towards her. If she’s not happy about my behaviour, she can come and tell me. I would like to correct it to become a better player and a better person.”
Zheng also implied Navarro’s inferiority by shading her. “I’m happy she let me know that. She lost the match, therefore I won’t regard it as an attack,” Zheng declared. Zheng will face Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the women’s singles quarterfinal on Wednesday after the fierce, all-out fight between the top-15 players.
In addition to this developing rivalry, the Paris courts made news on Tuesday when Croatian Donna Vekic stunned American star Coco Gauff, who later accused the umpire of “cheating” on her. The top four women’s competitors still chasing the gold medal are Danielle Collins, Iga Swiatek, Zheng, and Kerber.