Jasmine Paolini has discovered some things about herself at Wimbledon this year.
Paolini lost her first set at Wimbledon 6-0 this year in her first round match against qualifier Robin Montgomery, and it looked as though the two-time Grand Slam finalist’s relatively poor recent form was set to continue.
However, the Italian showed signs of resurgence, with Paolini beating Alexandra Eala en route to reaching her first Grand Slam quarter-final since losing in the Wimbledon final in 2024.
Paolini’s run came to an end in the quarter-finals after being beaten by Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-2 and she has now stated what her goal is going forwards.
Jasmine Paolini explains what she has realised at Wimbledon this year
In Paolini’s post-match press conference after losing to Kostyuk, she was told that her explosiveness and quickness has changed, and was not at the level when she reached both the Roland Garros and Wimbledon final.
In her response to this, Paolini suggested that she felt good in terms of physicality, but claimed that her mentality would be more likely to get in the way of this,
“I think we didn’t change,” said Paolini. I mean, I change the fitness coach, but I change in the middle of last year. But I don’t think this is the thing. I think that last year, in the last months, I played really well. Physically I was feeling really good.
“I think it’s more how I feel on court mentally, because I think it’s more that thing. It’s not something physical. Of course, I know last couple of months I didn’t practice that much because of the foot, because of the injury.
“I think, as well, the brain, it’s the thing that make you run more or make you be more explosive. You know what I mean? I think that my explosivity is there. Some matches it’s there; some it’s not there. Today was not there. So it’s not the physical part, I think. It’s more the mental part.”
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In a follow-up to this, the journalist told Paolini that he would like to see her smiling on court again.
Paolini again responded that she had felt good on court at Wimbledon this year, and stated that her goal for the rest of this year was to keep this feeling going.
“I think this last tournament, I mean, this Wimbledon, I felt good on court,” said Paolini. “I felt good mentally. Today was not the best day maybe on court. At the same time it can be normal that not every match I’m at the top.
“I will speak with my team. But the goal, as I said before, it’s to have this kind of positivity on court, this kind of mindset, because I realize maybe — I knew, I think already, but I realized this tournament that the mindset, it’s too important in this sport. It’s the engine for everything, yeah, the physical part, for the technical part. That’s the main goal, to feel like that for the rest of the season.”
What is next for Jasmine Paolini after Wimbledon?
As a result of her resurgent run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals, Paolini will climb up two places to world number 15.
However, Paolini is still down at 27th in the race to the WTA Finals, a tournament she has qualified for the past two years.
Paolini’s ranking is a lot higher than her race position as she still has a significant number of points to defend this year.
This includes the coming weeks after Wimbledon, with Paolini having 650 points to defend from reaching the Cincinnati Open final last year.
Paolini will have an opportunity to gain some points before then, as she makes her debut at the Washington Open, before returning to the Canadian Open, where she lost her only match last year.
