Tennis star pulls out of tournament owned by billionaire dad as emotional statement issued | Tennis | Sport

Emma Navarro has been forced to withdraw from the Charleston Open, her home tournament, which is owned by her father, Ben Navarro. The former world No. 8 has struggled to find her best form of late, dropping outside of the world’s top 25. Announcing her withdrawal from next week’s WTA 500 event in an emotional statement, Navarro revealed that she had been battling health issues for the past year.

Tournament organisers shared a message from Charleston-born Navarro on Thursday. It read: “I’m super disappointed to not be playing the Charleston Open this year. This tournament means so much to me, and I never take for granted the opportunity to play at home in front of my family, friends, and the Charleston community, whose support is overwhelming and unconditional.

“Unfortunately, I have been dealing with some health struggles for the past year or so that I am continuing to sort out. I am working closely with my doctors and team to feel the best I can, but I just need a bit more time in doing so.

“I feel optimistic that I’ll be back on court soon in the coming weeks, and I’m already looking forward to competing in Charleston next year!”

This will be the first time Navarro has missed the Charleston Open since she made her tournament debut as a wildcard in 2019. That was also her WTA Tour debut. Last year, the American reached the quarter-finals before losing to Amanda Anisimova.

Navarro’s father, Ben, became the owner of the tournament in 2018 after acquiring Charleston Tennis LLC. In 2021, the tournament announced that Credit One would become its new title sponsor.

Ben is the founder and CEO of Sherman Financial Group, which owns Credit One Bank. According to Forbes, Navarro’s father is worth £2.4billion ($3.2billion). This is an exciting year for the Charleston Open, as earlier this year, Ben announced a record prize money and player benefits pot of £1.87million ($2.5million).

Of this, £1.7m ($2.3m) is going into the prize money purse, and the rest will be distributed as player benefits. The singles champion will receive £265,576 ($354,345), up from £123k ($164k) last year.

It’s more than double the required amount of prize money for a 500-point tournament on the WTA Tour, and makes the Charleston Open the first standalone WTA 500 tournament to achieve equal prize money with comparable ATP 500 events on the men’s ATP Tour.

The Charleston Open kicks off next week. Jessica Pegula is the defending champion, while Amanda Anisimova, Belinda Bencic, and Madison Keys are also on the entry list.

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