Jasmine Paolini is a bright future for Italian Tennis. The 28-year-old ended the season #4 in the WTA rankings.
Jasmine Paolini Season Review
Jasmine Paolini started 2024 in Australia. The Italian made the fourth round of a major for the first time. Losing at that stage to Anna Kalinskaya. Despite losing at the fourth round stage, Paolini singles ranking went into the top #25. The Italian had a career high #24 after the first grand slam of the season.
February saw Paolini at the WTA event in Linz with Sara Errani for the doubles. The Italian pair reached the final and defeated the top seeds to claim the title. Dubai followed, where Paolini made her first WTA 1000 final. Her opponent was Kalinskaya, the person who knocked her out of the Australian Open. This time, though the Italian avenged that, taking the title and moving up to #15.
Indian Wells saw the Italian again defeat Kalinskaya to reach the fourth round. Despite losing to the #28 seed here, Paolini was still on the rise. A quarter-final finish in Stuttgart and a fourth round in Madrid saw the 28-year-old rise to a new high of #12.
At the Italian Open, Paolini partnered Errani again, and claimed the WTA 1000 doubles title, which was her first and took her into the top #25 in doubles. This was followed by the French Open. Paolini and Errani made the final of the French Open doubles, but lost to the fifth seeds. The Italian also made the final of the singles at the French Open, her first grand slam final. She lost to the #1 seed.
Wimbledon & Olympics
Paolini was starting to garner results and this resulted in being seeded #7 at Wimbledon. The Italian had never won a match at the All-England Club in all previous attempts. 2024 proved to be a breakthrough year for her. The 28-year-old made her second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. Although ultimately defeated, Paolini pushed the champion to three sets. Having made both the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same year, Paolini became the first woman to achieve this feat since Serena Williams in 2016. The Italian also rose to a new career high ranking of #5.
Paolini was seeded fourth in the singles at the Olympic games, but lost in the third round. However, in the doubles, with Errani, the Italians won the doubles Gold Medal. Paolini was able to leave the games as a medallist. Following the Olympics the Italian pairing won the doubles at the China Open, the first Italian pair to do so and taking her ranking up to #10 in doubles. This meant she was ranked in the top ten of both singles and doubles at the same time, the only active player, at that time, of either gender, to achieve that.
Wuhan saw Paolini make her debut at the event in singles. The Italian reached the quarter-final before being defeated. This saw her rise in the rankings up to #4.
End of Season
Paolini made her debut at the WTA finals in both singles and doubles. However, she did not progress beyond the round robin stage in either. The final event of the year saw Italy in the Billy Jean King Cup. After defeating Poland, which included #1 Iga Swiatek, in the semifinal Italy moved into the final. Paolini won her singles match which handed the title to Italy and a great end to the year for Paolini, who ends the year #5 in the world.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
