Jasmine Paolini

Jasmine Paolini (born 4 January 1996) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 15 July 2024, and No. 13 in doubles, achieved on 1 July 2024.

Paolini is a two-time major finalist, reaching the 2024 French Open and Wimbledon finals. She has won two singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including a WTA 1000 singles title at the 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships. She has also won two singles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour along with nine titles in singles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit. She is the current Italian No. 1 female player.

Early life
Paolini was born in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana and grew up between Carrara and Forte dei Marmi, in Tuscany. Her father, Ugo, is Italian and her mother, Jacqueline, is of Polish and Ghanaian descent, originally from Łódź. Her maternal grandmother, who lives in Łódź, is Polish and her maternal grandfather, who lives in Copenhagen, is Ghanaian. Her brother, William, also plays tennis.

She was introduced to tennis by her father and uncle at the age of five, and trained at the Mirafiume Tennis Club in Bagni di Lucca in her youth. At the age of 15, she moved to Tirrenia for training.

Junior career
In January 2013, Paolini won her only junior title at the J4 Wilson ITF Junior Classic in Bergheim. She made her junior Grand Slam debut after qualifying for the US Open later that year. She reached the third round in singles, before losing to eventual finalist Tornado Alicia Black. She also reached the third round of the Australian Open in January 2014.

2015–2017: WTA Tour debut, first 100k title
In May 2015, Paolini received a wild card into the main draw of the doubles tournament at the Italian Open with Nastassja Burnett. The pair lost in the first round to Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

In June 2017, Paolini won her first 100k title at the Open de Marseille. She defeated Taylor Townsend, Sara Cakarevic, Anhelina Kalinina, Dalma Gálfi, and top seed Tatjana Maria. She made her WTA Tour singles debut in the following month at the Swedish Open, where she lost in the first round to fifth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. She also entered the Guangzhou International Open, but lost in the first round to third seed Anett Kontaveit.

2018–2020: WTA Tour wins, top 100
After failing to qualify for the 2018 Australian Open, Paolini represented Italy in the Fed Cup against Spain in the World Group II and against Belgium in the World Group play-offs. In April 2018, she recorded her first WTA Tour win at the Copa Colsanitas against qualifier Lizette Cabrera. The following month, as a lucky loser at the Prague Open, she upset third seed Daria Kasatkina and defeated Anna Karolína Schmiedlová to reach her first WTA quarterfinal.

In May 2019, she made her WTA 1000 singles debut as a wild card at the Italian Open, but lost in the first round to Sofia Kenin. Later that month, she qualified for her first Grand Slam at the French Open by defeating Anna Zaja, Rebecca Šramková, and Allie Kiick in the qualifiers without dropping a set. She then reached the quarterfinals of the Palermo Ladies Open, defeating Laura Siegemund and Irina-Camelia Begu before losing to top seed Kiki Bertens. She also qualified for the main draw in Guangzhou and reached the quarterfinals. After reaching the final of the Tokyo Open in November 2019, Paolini broke into the top 100 of the WTA rankings, reaching a new career-high of world No. 96. She was the first Italian to reach the top 100 since Camila Giorgi in 2012.

In 2020, Paolini was entered directly into the main draws of the Australian Open and the US Open, but failed to advance past the first round of either. She recorded her first WTA 1000 level win at the Italian Open by defeating Anastasija Sevastova in the first round. At the French Open, which was postponed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Paolini recorded her first singles win at a Grand Slam by defeating Aliona Bolsova in the first round. She also recorded her first doubles win at a major, partnering Varvara Gracheva, defeating Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok in the first round.

2021: First WTA Tour singles & doubles titles
At the Gippsland Trophy in February 2021, Paolini reached her first WTA 500 third round, defeating Rebecca Marino and tenth seed Wang Qiang, before losing to eighth seed Karolína Muchová. She reached her first WTA 125 final at Saint-Malo by defeating Elsa Jacquemot, Nina Stojanović, Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, and Varvara Gracheva, before ultimately losing to Viktorija Golubic. She reached her second consecutive second round at the French Open with a win over Stefanie Vögele.

In June, she won her first WTA 125 title seeded third at the Bol Open, defeating Viktória Hrunčáková, Olga Govortsova, Kristína Kučová, top seed Anna Blinkova, and second seed Arantxa Rus. The following month, she won her first WTA Tour doubles title at the Hamburg European Open, partnering Jil Teichmann.

At the Summer Olympics, Paolini represented Italy in both singles and doubles. In singles, she lost in the first round to tenth seed Petra Kvitová. In doubles, she and partner Sara Errani, who had entered as alternates, reached the second round by upsetting the eighth-seeded team of Nicole Melichar and Alison Riske.

In September, she won her first WTA Tour title at the Slovenia Open in Portorož, defeating sixth seed Dayana Yastremska, Anna Kalinskaya, fourth seed Sorana Cîrstea, second seed Yulia Putintseva, and third seed Alison Riske. The following month, she reached her first WTA 1000 third round, after qualifying for the Indian Wells Open and defeating Mai Hontama and 14th seed Elise Mertens. She ended her season by reaching the semifinals of the Courmayeur Ladies Open and the quarterfinals of the Linz Open.

2022: Top 50, first top-10 win
At the Melbourne Summer Set 1, Paolini and partner Sara Errani reached the doubles final, but lost to the second-seeded team of Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula. Following the Australian Open, Paolini entered the WTA top 50 for the first time. She reached back-to-back third rounds at the Indian Wells Open, upsetting second seed Aryna Sabalenka in the second round for her first top-10 win.

She reached back-to-back WTA 250 quarterfinals in Palermo and Warsaw. Attempting to defend her title in Portorož, Paolini defeated Tara Würth and Kaja Juvan, before losing to eventual champion Kateřina Siniaková in the quarterfinals. She reached her second WTA final at the Transylvania Open, defeating sixth seed Marta Kostyuk, Dayana Yastremska, Jule Niemeier, and seventh seed Wang Xiyu, before ultimately losing to qualifier Anna Blinkova. She ended her season by winning the $100k Torneig Internacional Els Gorchs.

2023: Italian No. 1, top 30
Paolini's 2023 season started out slow, with first-round exits at the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, and Madrid. She won her second WTA 125 title in May, seeded fourth at the Firenze Ladies Open, and reached the final of the Makarska International Championships the following month. In July, she reached the final at the Palermo Ladies Open as the fourth seed, defeating Arantxa Rus, Dayana Yastremska, top seed Daria Kasatkina, and Sara Sorribes Tormo, before losing to second seed Zheng Qinwen.

She qualified for the Cincinnati Open, where she reached the quarterfinals with wins over Marta Kostyuk and Cristina Bucșa, and an early retirement by Elena Rybakina. The following month, she reached the first WTA 1000 doubles semifinal of her career, partnered with Mayar Sherif, in Guadalajara.

At the China Open, she reached the third round in singles with wins over Beatriz Haddad Maia and Yuan Yue. Following this result, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 31 on 9 October and surpassed Elisabetta Cocciaretto as the No. 1 Italian female tennis player. At the Zhengzhou Open, she reached the semifinals, defeating Moyuka Uchijima, world No. 10 Caroline Garcia, and Laura Siegemund, before losing to Zheng Qinwen. The following week, she reached the final of the Jasmin Open in both singles and doubles. As the top seed in singles, she defeated Alizé Cornet, Petra Marčinko, sixth seed Lucia Bronzetti, and fourth seed Lesia Tsurenko, before losing to second seed and defending champion Elise Mertens. In doubles, she and partner Sara Errani won the title.

2024: Back-to-back major finals, WTA 1000 titles, world No. 5
At the Australian Open, she reached the fourth round of a major for the first time with wins over Diana Shnaider, Tatjana Maria, and Anna Blinkova, before being beaten by first-time fourth rounder Anna Kalinskaya. Despite the loss, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 24, marking her first time within the top 25.

In Dubai, she reached her second quarterfinal at the WTA 1000 level, defeating eleventh seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, Leylah Fernandez and eighth seed Maria Sakkari. She reached her first final at this level, following a win over Sorana Cîrstea. She won her first WTA 1000 title, defeating qualifier Anna Kalinskaya and avenging her Australian Open loss earlier in the season. As a result, she moved into the top 15 of the rankings on 26 February 2024.

At the Indian Wells Open, she reached the fourth round, defeating Tatjana Maria and 21st seed Anna Kalinskaya again, before losing to 28th seed Anastasia Potapova. She reached a new career-high ranking of No. 13 after a quarterfinal appearance at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where she defeated compatriot Sara Errani and seventh seed Ons Jabeur. Following a fourth-round run in Madrid, she rose further to a career-high of No. 12.

Partnering Sara Errani, she reached the doubles final at the Italian Open and defeated the third-seeded team of Coco Gauff and Erin Routliffe to win her first WTA 1000 doubles title. As a result, she reached the top 25 in doubles on 20 May 2024. Seeded 12th at the French Open, Paolini reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time with wins over Daria Saville, lucky loser Hailey Baptiste, former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, and Elina Avanesyan. She then upset fourth seed Elena Rybakina for her first top-five win at a major, and then defeated Mirra Andreeva to reach her first Grand Slam final   which she lost to world No. 1 Iga Świątek. She also reached the doubles final with Errani but the pair lost out to Coco Gauff and Kateřina Siniaková.

Having never previously won a match at the tournament, Paolini reached the finals at Wimbledon, recording wins over Sara Sorribes Tormo, Greet Minnen, Bianca Andreescu, Madison Keys, Emma Navarro, and Donna Vekić. She became the first Italian woman to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in the Open Era, and the first woman to reach both the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same season since Serena Williams in 2016. Paolini lost the final to Barbora Krejčíková. Because of this result, she reached a new career-high at World No. 5 on 15 July 2024.

Playing style
Paolini's playing style is dynamic and aggressive, characterized by powerful groundstrokes. She uses heavy topspin on her forehand, but hits flat on her backhand. Due to her 1.63 m height, she has stated, "I wish I was taller, because I could serve better." However, she possesses great speed and agility, a credit to her shorter stature, allowing her to outmaneuver opponents.

Performance timelines
Current through the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.