Emma Navarro undoubtedly came on leaps and bounds in 2024, with the American ending her WTA season with a career-high rank of number eight.
Navarro made the biggest improvement in 2024 in terms of match wins, having clinched her first WTA Tour-level title in Hobart in January.
A rise from 32nd in the rankings to eighth was then secured through a series of impressive feats, with Navarro breaking into the top 10 for the first time in September.
That came thanks to a superb run at the US Open, where the 23-year-old knocked out defending champion Coco Gauff before a semi-final defeat to Aryna Sabalenka, having also beaten the former at Wimbledon.
All in all then, a hugely impressive 2024 from Navarro, but many tennis fans are not happy that she has been given the WTA’s Most Improved Player of the Year award.
Tennis fans angry after Emma Navarro named WTA’s most improved player
One such fan believed the honour should have gone elsewhere, writing on X: “How on earth you pick Navarro over [Jasmine] Paolini is beyond me. It’s ridiculous.”
A second fan agreed with that statement, saying: “Decent: we’ll never all agree on the choices. But Navarro went from 32 to 8 in the rankings while Paolini went from 30 to 4. Navarro was certainly much improved but Paolini was a little more deserving. Seems her getting the doubles award cost her most improved: not really fair.”
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Others concurred, commented: “Should have been Paolini” and “Most improved Navarro? Paolini robbed!”
At the same time, however, there was support for Navarro, with fans saying: “Nice work out there. You deserve it. Put the effort in and it shows!” and “Good for her! I hope she has a great 2025!”
How do Emma Navarro’s and Jasmine Paolini’s 2024 seasons compare?
Like Navarro, Paolini also reached her career-high ranking in 2024, with the Italian currently occupying that position of fourth in the world.
Paolini arguably improved most in 2024, having reached the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, as well as picking up one title in Dubai.
She fell in the fourth rounds of both the Australian Open and US Open either side of those runner-up spots, in a very impressive majors season.
Navarro meanwhile progressed as the Grand Slam season went on, having fallen at the third and fourth rounds of the Australian Open and French Open respectively.
| Age | Current ranking | Titles | Prize money | Win-loss record | |
| Emma Navarro | 23 | 8 | 1 | $2,751,968 | 54-24 |
| Jasmine Paolini | 28 | 4 | 1 | $5,820,798 | 41-20 |
Intriguingly, Paolini knocked the American out of the Wimbledon quarter-finals, but the latter recovered to reach the US Open semi-finals before her loss to eventual champion Sabalenka.
It is indeed Navarro who holds the bragging rights in their head-to-head record, winning three of their four career meetings.
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