Emma Navarro won the WTA’s Most Improved award, having also enjoyed a successful season last time out.

But the Italian reached a career-high ranking of fourth and took her tour-level titles tally to two with a win in Dubai.

Paolini also made it all the way to the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, but suffered heartache on both occasions.

What Jasmine Paolini told herself at Wimbledon after watching Serena Williams

Iga Swiatek defeated the Italian to triumph at Roland Garros, with Barbora Krejcikova coming out on top at the All England Club.

And Paolini unsurprisingly has very fond memories of the latter, telling Sky Sport Italy: “I was trying to realise where I was and the moment I was living because I honestly always watched the Wimbledon finals on television, it seemed like a very distant reality.

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“When I was there, I tried to tell myself to realise what moment it was and to enjoy it fully. I had seen Serena [Williams], [Roger] Federer, [Rafael] Nadal, [Novak] Djokovic, [Maria] Sharapova. Being there in person had a big effect on me. It still doesn’t seem too real to me, to be honest.”

Can Jasmine Paolini win a Grand Slam in 2025?

WTA Tour number four Paolini can be hugely proud of her breakout year, which remarkably comes at the age of 28.

Only 2024 star duo Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek and former US Open champion Coco Gauff finished ahead of her in the year-end rankings.

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But now the hard work mustn’t stop if Paolini is to recover from her Grand Slam heartache and go one step further.

That is certainly possible, although the competition will once more be of a very high standard in 2025, beginning with the Australian Open.

And not only will Paolini find it difficult to close the gap on the three stars ahead of her, she will also have the likes of Navarro, Qinwen Zheng and Elena Rybakina breathing down her neck.

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