Mariano Navone
Before breaking into the world’s top 100, Navone spent years working his way through the ATP Challenger circuit. By 2023, he had won five Challenger titles, all coming in the previous year. “I made my first final in 2022 in Corrientes. In that moment, I was around 520 in the rankings. Navone’s breakthrough arrived at the Rio Open in 2023. He entered the ATP 500 event without a single tour-level victory and left it as one of the week’s biggest stories. He had previously gone 0-2 at tour level, losing in the first round at Cordoba and then Buenos Aires. He became only the 11th qualifier to reach an ATP 500 final since the series began in 2009.
“Challengers have changed my life,” he said. Those tournaments became the foundation of his professional career and, as he explained, changed his outlook on the sport. The level of Challengers has given me everything. The matches have a lot of intensity. The competition, the players are so special. They’ve developed my game and mentality. It’s a challenge all the time to win matches. It’s very difficult to win. Rio changed everything. Starting through qualifying, Navone defeated Federico Coria, Yannick Hanfmann, Joao Fonseca and defending champion Cameron Norrie to reach the final.
113, he was set to break into the world’s top 100 for the first time and could have climbed as high as No. 40 with the title.
It was his nickname, “La Navoneta”. His run also sent him soaring up the rankings. From No. There was another part of Navone’s growing identity that fans were beginning to embrace.
NEW DELHI: Mariano Navone walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium as the lesser-known name, a 25-year-old Argentine facing one of the biggest names tennis has ever produced. Navone stunned Novak Djokovic in the first round of the US Open on Sunday, winning 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in a marathon that lasted four hours and 36 minutes. Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, was battling physical problems and frustration, but Navone refused to be intimidated by the occasion or his opponent. They love tennis,” Navone said in a 2023 interview. 3’s backhand. He remembers seeing Djokovic win his first Australian Open title in 2008 and immediately recognising something special. When I saw him win his first Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open, I was like, ‘Wow, this guy is very special!’ and what a career, right?
Because i’m not very famous, “La Navoneta is like the same, but with less people. Because i have charisma, so I think the people represent me with that name, “The people represent me with that. Because i played my first Grand Slam [last] year and I said, ‘Wow, join conversation Share your thoughts in the comments Be respectful · TOI community guidelines “I saw him at Roland Garros,.
“(It) was very tough for me because you are playing with the ‘GOAT’ on this court,” Navone said, recalling the surreal experience of facing his childhood idol. “La Navoneta” is a playful reference to “La Scaloneta”, the nickname associated with Argentina’s national football team manager Lionel Scaloni. Navone said.
He walked out with the biggest victory of his career; and, perhaps most remarkably, having beaten the player he once watched and idolised. The Argentine kept coming even after Djokovic took control by winning the second and third sets. By the fourth, Djokovic was visibly struggling, while Navone sensed an opportunity and seized it. He eventually became the first player to beat Djokovic in the opening round of the US Open and handed the Serbian his earliest Grand Slam exit in two decades. For Navone, though, the significance went beyond the scoreboard. “For sure it’s the best thing I’ve had on court. This is an amazing court and the biggest stage. It’s amazing, the way we play. I mean, five sets. … I’m very happy. I don’t know. What can I say? And then came the simplest description of what the night meant to him: “It’s unbelievable. This means a lot. It’s a dream come true. He picked up a racket at a local club in Argentina when he was just three years old. Tennis was not something that entered his life from the outside, it was already woven into his family. “I learned with a coach. My sister, mother, and father all play tennis. The club quickly became almost a second home. His uncle, family members and friends were regular opponents, and Navone spent much of his childhood there. “I played a lot of matches at the club with my uncle, family, friends. All the time, I went to the club. At seven or eight, I would spend five or six hours all the weekends. I was there all the time when I was kid! That early immersion helped shape the player he would eventually become: competitive, resilient and comfortable grinding through long matches. His rise, however, was far from overnight. The people don’t say, ‘Mariano’, they say ‘La Navoneta’! The nickname suited a player whose rise had become a story of momentum, persistence and belief. Yet there was another Argentine influence in his tennis. Navone grew up admiring David Nalbandian, particularly the former world No. He called Nalbandian a very good player and person. But above all, there was Djokovic. Navone’s admiration for the Serbian began when he was a child watching Grand Slam tennis. I am a fan of Djokovic, I think he’s the best player I’ve seen on the court. Years later, the boy who watched Djokovic from afar stood across the net from him at the biggest tournament of his life. And this time, it was Navone who made the memory, by sending his idol home. Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.
Navone’s relationship with tennis began long before the bright lights of New York.