After winning the 2021 NCAA singles championship, Emma Navarro quite literally smashed onto the professional tennis stage. When she went full-time on tour in 2023, she had played the most games of any tennis player on the ITF circuit and WTA Tour, with 88. Results, of course, followed the hard work. She went from ranking 143 in 2022 to 38 in 2023 and then cracked the top ten to reach No. 8 in 2024. But while things looked increasingly good on the outside for the Most Improved Player, the behind-the-scenes really proved why choosing your team correctly is so crucial.

Believing that she was on the right track and that everything she was physically experiencing was something every big player goes through, Navarro continued overlooking her health. On the court, the results reached a peak, plateaued, and then crashed. Pulling the weight of expectations, she continued to push until September 2025, when she broke into tears on the court during her Billie Jean King Cup matchup. She decided to be honest about her symptoms and left for her home. Last night, she finally opened up about what was really going on with her, along with an update on the year ahead.

“I remember feeling deep internal anger on the court that week in Hobart, like I wanted to smash every racket in my bag (something I had never done or wanted to do),” wrote Navarro in her long Instagram post. “Everything began to annoy me. My team, other people, anything that didn’t align with my specific preferences or routines, any imperfection on the court, every mistake, every point I lost. But I tried my hardest not to let people see how I felt, to keep it together.”

For at least three years, Navarro had been feeling irritated, tired, hungry within an hour of eating, and couldn’t sleep. She also kept losing weight. On the court, she had brain fog and headaches. However, with success on the court, the American also felt the need to keep her constant workload going while keeping her conflicted emotions to herself. After struggling internally, the South Carolina-born athlete met with various doctors, nutritionists, and specialists to understand what her symptoms were truly about.

Emma Navarro reveals her diagnoses and why she still kept pushing hard

Then, in the fall of 2025, she was diagnosed with a condition known as RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport). Due to the condition, the body does not receive enough energy to support the demands of physical activity and daily life. For an active athlete like Navarro, that was a requirement. But her complications didn’t end here.

The doctors also diagnosed her with the autoimmune disease Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism — the reason why she felt tired and hungry at the same time, because it confuses the body about when to take up energy and when to expend it.

“Deep down, I knew I wasn’t healthy. But I just had the year of my life. I trained harder than ever that preseason, pushing myself in the gym and on the court.

“I kept trying to fix things by obsessing over the imperfections in my game. To no avail, of course.”

However, she has finally understood that change is not always good.

Navarro turns over a new leaf with a better health system

Over the last year, the 25-year-old is already on a new routine. She has changed her diet to improve her energy levels; she routinely visits various doctors and specialists to keep her thyroid and blood sugar in check, and logs her symptoms to identify patterns. By her own admission, she made slow but steady progress.

“The dizziness faded. The headaches became fewer and farther between. Just a couple months ago. I started feeling more comfortable in the gym again with the ability to feel my body moving and my muscles working,” said Navarro on Instagram. “My mind slowly started to quiet down. My emotions calmed. My mental bandwidth expanded. My cognitive function improved.”

One could not argue with Navarro’s success on the court, especially during the 2024 season. She won her maiden title in Hobart, reached six semifinals, including the US Open, and the quarterfinals at high-profile events such as Indian Wells and Wimbledon. The American made a name for herself as a quick mover on the court, who could generate equal power on both wings from the baseline. However, even her tactical strengths were coming at a cost, and she recognized it before things could get worse.

“In the past few weeks, I felt able to play tennis as myself again. To see the ball moving, to move without thinking, to swing without cueing, to compete without it taking the life out of me.”

The American showed her mettle on the court, reaching the quarterfinal at the Australian Open. She even won a title in Merida, but after that, the season unraveled for her. Navarro had eight second-round exits and six third-round exits in the season, while also having seven quarterfinal appearances, but most of the runs she won through sheer grit and willpower, scrapping through close matches. Now, she is putting herself first.

Emma Navarro reveals her plans ahead while sharing a critical message

There was no shortage of criticism of Navarro during the period she gained weight or started losing in her ‘sophomore slump’, with online trolls often taking jabs at the American. Given that Navarro is under a refueling regimen, weight increase was a natural consequence, something that she acknowledged in her message as she closed out her 2026 season.

“So yeah, I gained some weight this year. But I also gained my life back,” said Navarro in the message. “I have enough energy to seize every day, to train or compete as hard as I want to, and to live a life outside of tennis.

“All that being said. I am taking the rest of this year to work on dialing in my medication and fueling protocols so that I can hopefully feel back to 100% again. I will not be competing in Asia this year, but I plan to be back on the road starting in Australia 2027.”

Navarro showed glimpses of her old form this year, winning a title in Strasbourg and finishing runner-up in Nottingham. However, the American had her best showing at the US Open, where she reached the quarterfinals, losing to compatriot Jessica Pegula in a hard-fought three-set battle. For now, though, all she wants to do is focus her energy on herself and return to the same form she entered the tour with.