Emma Navarro and Jessica Pegula are from hugely wealthy backgrounds. But they have combined work ethic with their undeniable privilege
“Can’t believe this is my life” was how Emma Navarro captioned a selfie she took during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. In the photo she’s standing at the bow of the Team USA riverboat, wedged in between Jessica Pegula and LeBron James. Fans on social media, though, had a much different takeaway. They couldn’t believe James, who will earn $48m in salary alone this season, was the poorest person in the picture.
Navarro and Pegula, both New York state natives, are members of an exclusive tennis sorority – the Billionaire Girls Club. The 23-year-old Navarro is the daughter of Ben Navarro, whose net worth is $1.5bn and has an interest in the Cincinnati and Charleston Opens; the 30-year-old Pegula, is the daughter of another billionaire, Terry Pegula, a sports patron whose holdings include the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. Combined, the family net worth of these two women rings in just shy of $10bn – more than enough money to watch Thursday night’s US Open action from a suite seat, or buy the entire stadium for that matter. Instead, they were on court, laying it all on the line in the semi-finals.