2 weeks Ago By Ben Crawford
Tennis star Jessica Pegula has praised the Charleston Open , which is owned by the equally affluent father of fellow player Emma Navarro . Pegula, whose billionaire family owns New York sports franchises the Buffalo Bills , Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bandits, has been enjoying her time on the hard court lately. She made the Miami Open final last month and has now progressed to the South Carolina showpiece, where she’ll face Sofia Kenin in an all-American affair.
The tournament is owned by Ben Navarro, whose tennis-playing daughter made the Australian Open quarter-finals in January and was bested by Emma Raducanu in Miami. Now, ahead of Pegula’s final, the 31-year-old has informed Navarro just how highly she rates her father’s competition. "I think the fans and just the hospitality of everything makes it feel kind of like you’re just playing at home, which I really like," New York-born Pegula admitted during an on-court interview.
"So, yeah, haven’t had a ton of free time. Maybe tonight I’ll get to venture off a little bit. But it’s fun.
It’s fun because we know the city so well, too. "I was hanging out with [former tennis player] Jen Brady the other night, because we were just here for Madi’s [Madison Keys’] wedding, which seems like not that long ago. So it feels like we were just here, kind of exploring the city.
So, yeah, it feels nice." While the tournament’s owner, Ben Navarro, sees his fortune stand at an estimated £3.75bn, Pegula and her family take the cake with a staggering £6bn if bank accounts are being compared.
Navarro, who has shot up the WTA rankings to No. 11 - only slightly behind Pegula again, currently ranked No. 4 - has been incredibly complimentary of her fellow US superstars, who now dominate the upper echelons of the WTA order.
"It's really cool that American tennis is back, I guess you could say, and thriving," admitted 23-year-old Navarro. "It's fun to cheer Jess on when she's playing in Miami and Maddie, of course, starting the year off winning the Australian Open title. I think we push each other to always keep getting better.
" Another American who has entered the top 16 is 23-year-old Amanda Anisimova, whom Navarro faced in the quarter-finals of her home tournament in Charleston. When the two went head-to-head, the former prevailed, with Anisimova winning the contest 7-5, 7(7)-6(1), though the victor - who exited the competition to finalist Kenin at the following stage - did reveal that the support in South Carolina was clearly for the home favourite, seeded No. 4.
"It was a great atmosphere," admitted Animisova on the Tennis Channel after beating Navarro. "I know everyone was cheering for Emma, but it’s all good. It was an amazing match, and I really enjoyed it.
It was a tough fight. It's not easy to play her, especially at her home tournament.".
