Emma Navarro reached her first career Grand Slam semifinal after dashing Paula Badosa in straight sets on Tuesday. After the win, she gave props to her father, Ben, who she considers her No. 1 fan and supporter and the one who had “the vision” when the former star junior player was young.
Navarro’s father is also one of the nation’s largest buyers of consumer debt, and she all but confirmed the obvious: that being the daughter of a billionaire financier has its perks, especially in athletics.
“I had access to courts from a young age … I had coaches who would help me out,” she told reporters on Tuesday. “It did play a role in allowing me to be where I’m at now, and I’m super grateful that I did have those resources as a kid.”
However, Navarro’s story was not unique among this year’s U.S. Open contenders. American finalist, Jessica Pegula, is the daughter of Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and several minor league hockey teams. Terry made his fortune in natural gas drilling, and has a net worth of $7.7 billion, per Forbes.
Pegula landed an upset over No. 1 Iga Swiatek on Wednesday night to advance to the semifinals before taking down Karolina Muchova on Thursday to reach the final, where she’ll meet Aryna Sabalenka.
Navarro, who attended one of the best private schools in South Carolina (Ashley Hall), grew up far wealthier than her counterparts and opponents in the field—except for Pegula, of course. Ben, the son of former Ivy League football coach Frank Navarro and founder of private equity firm Sherman Financial Group, has a reputation for being a low-profile, private billionaire but is still a known figure in the sports business world. The former Citigroup vice president previously attempted to buy the Carolina Panthers but ultimately lost to hedge fund owner David Tepper, who bought the NFL franchise in 2018 for a then-record $2.2 billion.
The businessman has since planted deeper roots in tennis, acquiring the Cincinnati Open for $270 million two years ago through his family office investment firm Beemok Capital (Navarro competed in the event last month). The purchase of the men’s and women’s tennis event added to Ben’s portfolio, which already included the Charleston Open.
While Navarro realizes she had a smoother route than others, she refuses to credit her dad’s deep pockets be the main reason for her on-court success.
“I did have access to resources as a kid, but I don’t want that to take away from the fact that I’ve worked really hard to be where I’m at,” she said. “I’ve put a ton of hours in and started training, getting in the gym since the time I was 8, 9 years old.”
Pegula, a seven-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist who has now reached her first career final, pushed back against the notion that her life is substantially different than her peers.
“People think I have a butler, that I get chauffeured around, I have a private limo, that I fly private everywhere,” Pegula said in a press conference. “I’m definitely not like that. People can think what they want … it’s a little annoying, but honestly I just think it’s kind of funny, because I don’t really even know anyone that lives like that.”
On the men’s side, American semifinalist Taylor Fritz is the great-great-grandson of David May, who founded the May Department Stores Company, which merged with Macy’s. His mother, Kathy May, was a former top 10 tennis player herself, and his father and uncle were both professional players. Fritz grew up in an affluent neighborhood of San Diego.
His foe in the semifinals, fellow countryman Frances Tiafoe, has a very different background. His parents immigrated from Sierra Leone, with his mother working as a nurse and his father as a construction worker at a youth tennis facility. Tiafoe and his brother lived with their father in a spare office at the center, and Tiafoe was enrolled in the tennis clinic there free of charge at age 5.
Wealth helped Tiafoe on his way up the ladder, however, as he was sponsored by billionaire Bill Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, after the two met in 2013. “It’s unbelievable. He’s done so much for me,” Tiafoe said in an interview with Bloomberg in 2015. “He gave me a chance to play around the world and not worry about any finances at all.”
Tiafoe’s inspiring journey nonetheless demonstrates the importance of access and resources for aspiring youths in tennis, which is an expensive sport. Costs for coaching, court time, rackets, strings, tournament fees, travel and accommodations pile up, all before players begin earning any money from their performance.
Even once players get to the professional tour, expenses often exceed earnings for several years. Rising young American Brandon Nakashima told the Los Angeles Times in 2022 that his budget for the year could hit $500,000. Only 93 men’s and 84 women’s tennis players have made that much in prize money so far in 2024.
Navarro and Pegula can claim that they had relatively normal upbringings, but the fact that two of the final four women at the U.S. Open were born into billionaire wealth is no coincidence.
(This story has been updated Thursday night to include Pegula’s advance to the final.)
