Italy’s tennis scene is currently thriving. Last week, Jasmine Paolini led the Italian women’s team to a historic Billie Jean King Cup victory. This week, Jannik Sinner, the world number one, has been instrumental in guiding the Italian men’s team to consecutive Davis Cup Finals appearances. Between these two happenings, on November 20th, Wednesday, the nominees were set for the WTA Player Awards. Not to mention it’s resulted in a brewing controversy. But why?

Well, the list features all the fitting names, except for Italy’s Jasmine Paolini. After Lucia Bronzetti’s 6-2, 6-4 win over Viktoria Hruncakova, Jasmine Paolini beat Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova 6-2, 6-1 in straight sets. This 2-0 win scripted Italy’s first title win in eleven years. Despite her heroic efforts, however, it seems like WTA’s panel didn’t find Jasmine to be worthy enough for the ‘Most Improved Player’ award.

The full list has the likes of Danielle Collins, Marta Kostyuk, Diana Sznajder, Emma Navarro and Anna Kalinskaya. Commenting on this entire situation, tennis insider Marco Mazzoni, from Livetennis.it, came up with some harsh words for the WTA. “The lack of nominations for Jasmine Paolini in this category is a disgrace to all women’s sports. What more should Jasmine do? It’s such a bad decision that it speaks for itself,” said the journalist, as reported by Sport.pl on November 25th.

He further dished out his analysis on WTA in recent years. “In recent years, the WTA has lost credibility – from simple matters like managing its own website to political issues,” he concluded. Notably, Paolini is nominated for two prestigious WTA awards.

Player of the Year and Doubles Team of the Year (with Sara Errani). While Aryna Sabalenka’s exceptional performance this year makes her a strong contender for the Player of the Year award, Paolini’s achievements are still noteworthy.

Well, the journalist is not incorrect in his strict stance towards the WTA. Paolini has proven her worthiness in 2024 through her stupendous runs across various events.

Jasmine Paolini on her golden breakthrough 2024

At the beginning of the year, Jasmine Paolini failed to leave a lasting impression with the Australian Open. Her dry run continued in the Linz Open, and Qatar Open. However, she made a strong return with a phenomenal stint at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February. She not only reached the title clash against Anna Kalinskaya, but also beat her after trailing in the first set.

Her impressive run continued with appearances in the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon, where she faced Iga Swiatek and Barbora Krejčíková, respectively. But her courageous performance continued at the China Open, in October, where she made it to the title clash in doubles and eventually won the tournament. With her rise, she also qualified for the season finale in Riyadh. Yes, her stint at the WTA Finals wasn’t impressive.

But she came back strongly in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals this month. Her brilliant run throughout the event helped Italy to lift the trophy after a decade. “It’s unbelievable to finish the year like that with this trophy and it’s a dream season,” Paolini told Olympics.com after her BJK Cup triumph in Málaga, Spain. “It’s been a very good season to finish with the trophy, it’s perfect, and I’m really happy and really grateful to wear the blue Italian shirt, so it’s always a pleasure for me to play for Italy.”

To put it in perspective, she began the season at a position of No.30 – she ended it being No.4. Well that speaks volumes of improvement, doesn’t it? What do you think of Jasmine Paolini’s omission from WTA’s Most Improved Player award list? Let us know in the comments below.