Emilio Nava's competitive edge: Ignited even during tic-tac-toe

Challenger

Even tic-tac-toe sparks ‘Young Nava’s’ competitive spirit

Insight from the American who has won three Challenger titles this season

Adam Pretty/Getty Images Set to begin his grass-court season, Emilio Nava is tied for the most ATP Challenger Tour match wins in 2025. By Grant Thompson

When you think of a 23-year-old from Southern California, you might imagine someone who is laid back and easygoing. That is Emilio Nava to a tee.

Raised just outside of Los Angeles, Nava is always relaxed and friendly with everybody. Yet flip the switch to competition, and Nava taps into a relentless fire, a trait that those closest to him do not hesitate to mention when discussing what sets the American apart. His competitive spirit goes beyond the tennis court.

“I don’t even like losing tic-tac-toe to my girlfriend,” Nava told ATPTour.com. “I just can’t do it. I got to lock in. Me and my girlfriend play tic-tac-toe, five in a row. We can grind for two, three hours just competing. I can’t lose. Chess, or any type of game.”

It is no mystery where Nava’s flame comes from. Both of his parents were professional athletes and Nava is the youngest of three brothers, Eduardo and Diego. There was a built-in rivalry right at home.

Nava smiled when he recalled a video of him and his brothers playing tie-breaks at a young age. His competitive spirit is almost palpable as he describes the video, mentioning the loser’s punishment.

“Every time you lose, you get butts up, so you have to go on the fence and then they hit balls at you,” Nava said with a laugh. “I just kept losing and kept losing, but I kept wanting to play one more because I felt like I could beat them and I wanted to beat them so bad. But I kept losing and they kept doing butts up until my mom had to stop the practice because I was getting hit every breaker.

“It just makes me angry to see it because I wanted to beat them so bad, but I was like nine years old and they were probably like 12 or 14.”

Nava blends his cool Southern California demeanour with a fiery edge between the lines.

Courtside, he’s often called, ‘Young Nava’, a nickname that stuck from being the youngest among his brothers and cousins. ‘Young Nava’ is even his Instagram handle.

“I remember one time when I had one of my agents, I was going to get verified on Instagram and I was like, ‘Oh! This is like the biggest deal ever’,” Nava said in an April interview with ATPTour.com. “And he said, ‘Look, you can’t change your username after you get verified or else you lose the checkmark. Do you want to keep Young Nava?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, 100 per cent, gotta keep it’!”

“When someone calls me ‘Young Nava’, it’s one of my favourite nicknames.”

At World No. 121 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Nava is enjoying his career-best season. As he kickstarts his grass-court swing, he leads the ATP Challenger Tour with 33 match wins, tied with Frenchman Valentin Royer.

Nava notably went on a 19-match winning streak across a two-month span during which he won three Challenger titles, all on clay. He was one match short of a fourth consecutive Challenger trophy, only falling to Chris Rodesch in a three-set final in Tallahassee, Florida.

“I’ve never played that many matches in a row and then play in a final and overcome a different feeling that I haven’t felt in 19 matches,” Nava said. “I was tired and sluggish and I had to overcome that.”

Since hiring coach Diego Cristin at the start of the season, Nava’s progress is clear on paper. But it is the behind-the-scenes discipline that has the five-time Challenger champion playing some of the best tennis of his career.

“It’s the day-in, day-out work we put in together,” Nava said. “[Gaining] one per cent today, [gaining] one per cent tomorrow and at the end of the day in a few weeks, you gain that much percent.”

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