Paolini: ‘Just step on court and believe it’
15/11/2024 17:46
Runner-up with Italy in 2023, Jasmine Paolini credits the Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge with helping her to win the big matches that count
By Molly McElwee
Jasmine Paolini laughs when asked to pinpoint her highlight of this season. “A lot, a lot of good memories,” she says. It’s simply too difficult to pinpoint one.
Last November, she was ranked 30th in the world. Now she’s a top-five player with a WTA 1000 title under her belt. She also made back-to-back Grand Slam singles finals at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon – the first woman to achieve that feat since Serena Williams.
Add to that an Olympic gold medal in doubles for Italy and her belated rise to the top of tennis, aged 28, has been phenomenal.
“From Dubai, to Roland-Garros, Wimbledon - Wimbledon was amazing - but also the gold medal in Paris was a really special moment,” Paolini says. “I’m grateful to have many good moments to be able to choose.”
Paolini has the benefit of having grown into her career, but this year has been a whirlwind as she moved into the list of contenders for every event she entered. She admits she has probably never taken as many selfies with fans as she has this season, as her life has completely changed.
She is now recognised much more, especially back home in Italy, as the leading woman in the sport. “I love that people are asking me, it means that I give some positive emotions and vibes on court,” she says. “That’s great. So I’m trying to do everything that they ask – more or less.”
When asked at what point she realised she could compete at the very top of the sport, she says it partly began at last year’s Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals, where Italy finished runners-up. It was their best result since they last won the competition in 2013 and Paolini was their leader on the court.
“I think from the end of last year, I started to play better and better,” Paolini says. “I think also the Billie Jean King Cup, playing in the final, it was a big result for us. I think it helped me, I won big matches.
“Before the last year I wasn’t really confident to play in this competition. I was feeling the pressure and it was not easy for me to adjust, with so many people around on the bench, but last year I finally get used to it and tried to see the positive side, that I had so much support – and it worked. Hopefully I’m going to keep this mindset also this year.”
Italy begin their campaign in the quarter-finals against Japan on Saturday morning. Last year’s run, which saw Italy defeat France, Germany and Slovenia, before falling to Canada at the last hurdle, taught Paolini just how much they can achieve as a team.
“I was not believing last year that we would reach the final. But I remember that Martina Trevisan she told me, ‘we can do well this year’. Maybe that anything can happen in this competition, we have to believe in ourselves always.
“It’s tough every match here, it’s like a lottery because you play in a team, it’s like a different tournament. Just step on court and believe it even if it’s hard.”
