By Scoop Malinowski
All indications are that a new young American tennis star is emerging. The 23 year old Emilio Nava is one of the hottest players on the ATP World Tour right now as he won his third straight ATP Challenger title at Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open today with a 62 76 victory vs. Canada’s Liam Draxl.
Nava, ranked 169 today, which will ascend tomorrow with these title points, won his last two Challengers in Paraguay and Chile and then five more matches this week in Sarasota, to fashion a remarkable 15-match winning streak.
The last match the Los Angeles, Californian lost was in March at Santiago, Chile Challenger, in the semis against Daniel Elahi-Galan 67 26.
Today, Nava was sensational, using his superior firepower to overwhelm Draxl when it mattered most.
Draxl jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second set, a double break, but he could not pin down Nava, who re-set and rallied back to 3-3. Draxl’s extraordinary defending and counter punching forced Nava into a tiebreaker but the bigger shots from Nava were the difference. The final winner was a backhand cross in the corner which Draxl could only watch and say “too good.”
Nava has a new coach in his corner, the Argentine Diego Christian, who two years ago was here guiding American Tristan Boyer. He is clearly a top notch coach, issuing multi-sentence instructions to Nava between most points. Nava responded and got the job done.
A colorful character when excited, Nava shows a range of emotions, from trance like stoicism to the most intense celebratory roars you will ever see in a pro tennis court. The humble young man, with Christian, another coaching figure and his girlfriend in his box, was respectful to the draw he conquered, saying, “everybody in the draw is tough, even the guys in qualies, this is a really tough tournament.”
Before today, Nava beat Chris Rodesch in the first round 64 64, then Gabriel Boitan 63 62, Tomas Barrios Vera 75 76 and Eliot Spizzirri in yesterday’s semifinal 76 64.
Now in his sixth year as a pro, Nava has not been able to make an impact on the ATP World Tour, where his career mark is just 3-16. But that may be about to change in 2025.
Nava has an interesting background – his mom Xochitl was top 300 in WTA and his dad was a track and field athlete. His parents met while competing at 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. Nava says his favorite athlete is Mike Tyson and his dream job is to be a pro boxer. His favorite tennis player is David Ferrer.
The former ITF no. 5 junior, who is based at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL, after a stint at Ferrero Academy in Spain, has some lofty goals in his heart. “There are steps in my career and I feel like I’ve gotten over a lot of steps and I feel like there’s just a few more that need to be, I guess, stepped on,” Nava told ATPworldtour.com last year. “But the closer I get to the Top 100, the more I want to pass the Top 100. The more I want to pass the Top 100, the more I want to get into the 50s, 10s and then ultimately see what happens.”
Nava and Draxl will both compete at next week’s Tallahassee Open.
Emilio Nava · Liam Draxl · Sarasota Open
kOZ · April 14, 2025 at 1:27 pm
Great Story Scoop. Sorry that I didn’t see after match. Koz
Scoop Malinowski · April 14, 2025 at 1:33 pm
Twas another fabulous tournament Koz, I was there but didn’t step onto the court for the ceremony, see you next year.
Scoop Malinowski · April 14, 2025 at 7:40 pm
If you dear readers are bored this week, or there’s rain delay, check out this podcast I did last week, mostly boxing and some tennis at the end. It’s with David Hipkin, who I thought asked excellent questions and kept it flowing nicely. He lives five min from AELTC. Cheers, Scoop Did this terrific podcast last week with David Hipkin The Boxing Bug, one of the best podcasters I’ve encountered, excellent questions and flow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nQkWSbI9pM