EMMA NAVARRO is the billionaire tennis star set to make her Centre Court debut this afternoon.
The 19th seed at this year’s Wimbledon Championships, Navarro will take on four-time Major champion Naomi Osaka in a hotly-anticipated second round battle.
Navarro, 23, is an emerging force on the WTA Tour, sitting at a career high ranking of No17 in the world.
Earlier this year she won her first tour level title, beating Elise Mertens to triumph in Hobart in January.
She has also earned a cool $1,074,546 (£850k) in prize money so far this year – although this figure is dwarfed by her family’s existing wealth.
The talented 5ft 7in star is the daughter of American tycoon Ben Navarro.
As per Forbes, Ben is worth a staggering $1.5bn (£1.2bn) – more than Roger Federer $550m (£434m), Novak Djokovic $240m (£189m) Rafael Nadal $220m (£174m) combined.
Navarro earned his fortune in a series of successful business ventures.
He founded the Sherman Group in 1998 – which specialises in credit cards and debt collection.
While he owns Credit One, which is said to have provided more than 18 million credit cards.
BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS
A keen tennis fan, Ben splashed around $300m (£240m) to buy the Western & Southern Open, a long standing tournament that has been played in various formats in Cincinnati since 1899.
Upon his purchase, rumours swirled that the tournament, which just celebrated its 125th birthday, could be moved to Charlotte.
But they have since committed to its current Mason, Ohio home, with its new owners pledging to fork out hundreds of millions in improvements to the current site.
Frank Navarro, Emma’s late grandfather, was also a successful college football player and coach.
During his career, he worked at the likes of Columbia and Princeton.
As for Emma, she fittingly decided to take the college route into professional tennis.
The talented up-and-comer won the prestigious NCAA singles title in 2021, which earned her a wildcard into the 2021 US Open, where she made her Grand Slam debut.
She then stayed at Virginia for one more year, before leaving to turn pro in 2022.
Fast forward two years, and she is playing her first Wimbledon as a seed.
Navarro swept China’s Wang Qiang, a former US Open quarter-finalist, aside 6-0, 6-2 in round one, to book an exciting Centre Court clash with Osaka.
She has already guaranteed a £93,000 purse for her efforts at this year’s Championships.
And should she triumph against Osaka this afternoon that tally will rise to £143k, a cool addition to her already impressive wealth.
PRIZE MONEY for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships is a new record – and puts the grass-court Slam at the top of the tree.
The All England Club will dish out £50million across all the events – an increase of £5.3m and 11.9 per cent on last year, where singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova picked up £2.35m each.
However, the king and queen of grass this July will collect an extra £350,000 – taking the winner’s earnings to £2.7m.
Here is the breakdown for the 2024 Wimbledon singles prize money:
