Emma Navarro skips Asian swing after revealing long-running health problems

Emma Navarro is sitting out the Asian swing as she works towards next season after disclosing health problems that affected her weight, energy and emotional wellbeing. BBC Sport reported that the American, currently ranked 24th, described the difficulties in an Instagram post and said she now has more energy for both tennis and everyday life.

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The 25-year-old said she was diagnosed with relative energy deficiency in sport, known as RED-S, towards the end of 2025. She subsequently learned she also had Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. According to the BBC, those problems contributed to a difficult start to 2026, when she lost nine of her opening 13 matches and withdrew from the Charleston Open at the end of March.

Navarro’s account traced the warning signs back through three years in which her professional results were improving. She said she and her team had believed their approach was helping her progress, with a rising ranking and gains in speed and athleticism. That success helped obscure how she was feeling. She reported losing around 14kg during 2023 and 2024 while continuing to reach new milestones in tennis.

Her first WTA Tour title, at the Hobart International, came amid emotional difficulties that she had not previously experienced with the same intensity. Navarro described becoming unusually irritable and angry, with mistakes, lost points and disruptions to her routines provoking frustration. She said she tried to conceal those feelings from others while also experiencing hunger throughout the day, despite the outward signs of success on court.

During 2025, she experienced dizziness and headaches alongside fatigue, problems concentrating, anxiety and changes in mood. After consulting doctors, nutritionists and other specialists, she came to understand that she had been consuming too little fuel for almost the entire period, according to her account. The disclosure explains difficulties that continued beyond individual tournaments or disappointing results.

Navarro won the Strasbourg Open in May, her first title in more than a year. In describing her recovery, she said gaining weight this year had been accompanied by renewed energy to train, compete and enjoy activities outside tennis. She is missing the Asian events as part of that recovery.