Five Things You Should Know
Five things to know about Mariano Navone
Learn more about the 22-year-old Argentine
February 25, 2024
Rio Open/Photojump
Mariano Navone will enter the world Top 100 for the first time since Rio de Janeiro.
By ATP staff
Argentina’s Mariano Navone has taken the tennis world by storm this week at the Rio Open presented by Claro, where he will face compatriot Sebastian Baez for the title on Sunday.
Navone is ranked No. 113 in his career in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and will reach No. 40 if he wins the title.
ATPTour.com looks at five things you need to know about the 22-year-old.
He had not won at tour level entering Rio de Janeiro
Prior to the Rio de Janeiro event, Navone had never won a tour-level race. He was 0-2, with both of those games coming earlier this year.
Navone lost in the first round in Córdoba before qualifying in Buenos Aires and losing in the first round of the main draw there.
The Argentine became just the 11th qualifier to reach an ATP 500 final since the series began in 2009, behind wins against Federico Coria, Yannick Hanfmann, Joao Fonseca and defending champion Cameron Norrie.
How the Argentine started in tennis
Navone started playing in a local club in Argentina when he was three years old.
“I learned with a coach. My sister, mother and father play tennis. They love tennis,” Navone said.
“I played a lot of matches at the club with my uncle, my family, my friends. I was going to the club all the time. At seven or eight, I spent five or six hours every weekend. I was there all the time when I was a kid!”
Mariano’s idols are Djokovic and Nalbandian
Navone’s two idols were Novak Djokovic and David Nalbandian.
About Djokovic he said: “I saw him at Roland Garros, because I played my first Grand Slam [last] year and I said, “Wow!” I’m a Djokovic fan, I think he’s the best player I’ve seen on court. When I saw him win his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open in 2008, I was like, “Wow, this guy is pretty special!” and what a career, right?’
The Argentine added that his compatriot Nalbandian’s backhand was “very special”. “[He] he was a very good player, a very good backhand and a very good person,” he said.
The history of his nickname
Navone’s nickname, La Navoneta, is a play off the nickname of Argentina national football team coach Lionel Scaloni, whose nickname is La Scaloneta.
“La Navoneta is the same, but less crowded because I’m not very famous!” Navone said. “People represent me with this because I have a gift, so I think people represent me with this name. People don’t say “Mariano”, they say “La Navoneta”!”
Credits ATP Challenger Tour
Although Navone entered Rio de Janeiro without a win at the tour level, he has had plenty of success on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 22-year-old has won five titles at this level, all of them last year.
“The challengers have changed my life,” he said. “I made my first final in 2022 in Corrientes. At the time, I was around 520 in the rankings. The Challengers level has given me everything. The matches are very intense. The competition, the players are so special. They have developed my game and my mentality. It’s a challenge all the time to win matches. It’s very difficult to win.”
Grant Thompson contributed excerpts to this story from a 2023 interview