![\"Mariano](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/navone-cagliarich-2026.jpg\")
<\/p>\n Challenger
\n Navone’s 20-year dream comes to life<\/p>\n
The Argentine reflects on his maiden ATP Tour title, the road to get there and more<\/p>\n
April 29, 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kathryn Riley\/ATP Challenger<\/p>\n
Mariano Navone is competing this week at the Sardegna Open, an ATP Challenger 175 event in Cagliari, Italy.
\n By Grant Thompson<\/p>\n
When Mariano Navone<\/a> clinched his first ATP Tour title this month in Bucharest, his reaction told the story. The 25-year-old raised his arms in the air and flashed his infectious smile, a grin that suggested he was almost laughing in disbelief. Perhaps there was also relief \u2014 Navone had fallen short in his previous two tour-level finals, including in Bucharest in 2024.<\/p>\n \nA reflective Navone post match could not help but think of his younger self, who had spent two decades dreaming of that milestone moment. \u201cWhen I was a kid, I dreamed of winning these tournaments on the big stages,\u201d the Argentine said.<\/p>\n \nNavone\u2019s dream began as soon as he could hold a racquet. As the Argentine puts it, \u201cThe dream was from always\u201d. Navone started playing tennis as a toddler at his hometown club, Club Atl\u00e9tico 9 de Julio, where he began imagining himself on the sport\u2019s biggest stages. <\/p>\n \n\u201cI was watching Nalbandian, Del Potro in the major tournaments and I said, \u2018I want to be him\u2019,\u201d Navone told the ATP Challenger media team at this week\u2019s Sardegna Open<\/a>. \u201cFrom that time, I always watched Argentinian players in the big tournaments and I dreamed of that when I was a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n \nTurning that childhood vision into reality was never going to be simple.<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt\u2019s a very long process,\u201d Navone said. \u201cWhen you are growing up in the sport, you see that it\u2019s not an easy job. Now I\u2019m 25, and I dreamed of it from five or six years old, so 20 years later!\u201d<\/p>\n \nNavone\u2019s triumph at the ATP 250 secured his return to the Top 50 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time in 13 months.<\/p>\n \nNow, after a second-round loss to Alexander Zverev<\/a> at the Mutua Madrid Open<\/a>, Navone is the top seed at the ATP Challenger 175 event in Cagliari. Navone won the event in 2024, the same season in which he made history at Roland Garros<\/a>, becoming the first player in the Open Era to be seeded in his first major main draw.<\/p>\n \nSince then, Navone has established himself on the ATP Tour. He ascended to a career-high No. 29 in June 2024. He has made occasional appearances on the ATP Challenger circuit, and when he does, he is a consistent contender, something he underlined last month in Cap Cana. Navone claimed the title in Cap Cana, one of six Challenger 175 events. It marked Navone\u2019s biggest career title at that point and his first hard-court title at any level.<\/p>\n \n\u201cI was born on clay courts. I never played on hard courts until 2021, 2022,\u201d Navone said. \u201cIt was a really, really good tournament. I was super excited in the trophy ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n \nThree weeks later, Navone was crowned champion in Bucharest, a city he has long travelled to compete in tournaments.<\/p>\n \n\u201cIn 2020 and 2021, I played many times in Romania. It was a long trip, but it was cheaper than other parts of Europe,\u201d Navone said. \u201cBucharest has a very special place in my heart because I [won my first ATP Tour title there], played a final one year and I played Futures there. I enjoy the people of Romania because they are similar to the Latin people.\u201d<\/p>\n \nA nine-time Challenger champion, Navone will look to add to that collection this week in Cagliari. In 2024, he beat home favourite Lorenzo Musetti<\/a> in the final. Navone this week will start against another Italian superstar in Matteo Berrettini<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt will be a really, really challenging match,\u201d said Navone, who has twice lost to Berrettini at ATP Tour level. \u201cMatteo is very dangerous with the serve and the forehand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Challenger Navone’s 20-year dream comes to life The Argentine reflects on his maiden ATP Tour title, the road…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-614461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mariano Navone is crowned champion at the Sardegna Open<\/a>.” style=”width:100%” src=”https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/-\/media\/images\/news\/2024\/05\/05\/19\/11\/navone-cagliarich-2024-trophy.jpg”>
Navone triumphs at the Cagliari Challenger in 2024. Credit: Mike Lawrence\/ATP Challenger<\/p>\n