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Emma Navarro was recently named 2024's Most Improved Player of the Year by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). However, this pick did not go down well with several fans, who lambasted the American for winning the award instead of Italy's Jasmine Paolini.
The Italian reached two singles Grand Slam finals this year, won the Dubai Tennis Championships, claimed the women's doubles gold at the Paris Olympics, and helped her country lift the Billie Jean King Cup. Paolini finished 2023 as the year-end World No. 30 in singles. This year, she finished the season as the World No. 4, just behind the top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 2 Iga Swiatek and third-placed Coco Gauff.
Meanwhile, Emma Navarro also broke through into the top 10 this year, having ended last year as the World No. 38. The American won her maiden WTA Tour-level title at the Hobart International, reached the quarterfinals and semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships and US Open respectively, and also mustered deep runs in multiple WTA 500 and WTA 1000 events. Navarro finished the 2024 season as the World No. 8.
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On Monday, December 9, the WTA revealed its picks across all 2024 player award categories, with the 'Most Improved Player of the Year' award going to Emma Navarro. The development came as a shock to most tennis fans on Reddit.
Several fans felt that Navarro was not the right pick for the award. They opined that Paolini would have been a better pick considering the Italian's achievements in 2024 compared to Navarro's.
"Most improved Navarro? Are they for real? I know Paolini wasn't nominated (she should have been and should have won it) but Diana Shnaider is also a better choice than Emma," a fan wrote.
"I personally think that Jasmine Paolini should be the most improved player. Nothing against Emma but Jasmine had a better year," commented another fan.
""Few players were more exciting to follow this season than Emma Navarro. She combined excellent performance with a fun personality on social media, which elevated her to new stardom in the United States." ...I beg your pardon? Stoic on court personality and bratty, b**chy off court personality are exciting and fun?" another chimed in, criticizing the Sports Illustrated article that was being discussed in the Subreddit.
"Her daddy bought her that award," yet another fan added, poking fun at Navarro and her billionaire father Ben.
Others opined that Jasmine Paolini did not get what she deserved after a commendable year.
"Jasmine wuz robbed," wrote one fan.
"This is the biggest snub to me. Jasmine Paolini’s breakout this year deserves recognition!" another weighed in.
Despite Navarro's overall improvement in 2024, the American stirred controversy with her behavior towards Zheng Qinwen at the Paris Olympics.
Emma Navarro hit out at Zheng Qinwen during post-match handshake at Paris Olympics 2024
Eventual women's singles gold medalist at the Paris Olympics, Zheng Qinwen, cut short Emma Navarro's campaign representing the USA in the third round. There was a major flashpoint after the match when Navarro and Zheng came together at the net. The American appeared to say something derogatory to the Chinese. However, it wasn't clear at the time.
The American later opened up about the incident during a post-match press conference and claimed that Qinwen had been disrespectful towards her.
"I don't want to go super into the weeds with it, but I think during that match and, you know, on the practice court and the last few times l've played her, because we have been playing each other since we were juniors, I felt just a little bit disrespected by her. You know, I don't want to, like I said, go too into detail with it. But yeah, I think she didn't necessarily treat me or the sport with respect. That's why I said what I said after the match. But, yeah, that's it," Navarro said.
The American maintained her stance on the controversy ahead of a potential semifinal matchup against the Chinese at the 2024 US Open. However, the matchup didn't ultimately happen after Qinwen was ousted by eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka, who later defeated Navarro in the semis.
