Sad News: Jasmine Paolini Is Out Of Italian Tennis Squad After She Fair To……………………….read more.
On the famed red clay of Roland-Garros in August, Jasmine Paolini could hardly contain her excitement as she tossed her racket high in the air, pumped both of her fists and embraced her doubles partner, Sara Errani. Just seconds earlier, the Italian duo had made history, defeating Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider to claim their nation’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in tennis. “We were playing good, so I was repeating to myself, ‘Maybe we can have a chance,’” Paolini tells Forbes, a few weeks removed from the Paris Games. “But I was hoping for this gold medal.”
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Admittedly, even Paolini couldn’t have predicted this breakthrough moment, let alone the banner year that has undoubtedly transformed her life. In February, she picked up her first WTA 1000 title at the Dubai Tennis Championships, and she followed it up with a six-month stretch that included runs to the finals of the French Open (in both singles and doubles) and Wimbledon, in addition to her Olympic triumph. Paolini enters next week’s U.S. Open as the fifth-ranked player in the world, an astonishing achievement considering that three years ago, she had barely cracked the top 100.
Late bloomers, like the American Jessica Pegula, are fairly rare in professional tennis, a sport in which many players often contemplate retirement upon reaching their 30s. But at 28, the once-plucky underdog Paolini is opening a whole new world of possibilities, especially off the court. Her improbable rise has already yielded several new brand partnerships in 2024, expanding a portfolio that includes longtime sponsors Asics and Yonex.
“If you win matches, of course, you have more visibility,” she says. “So that’s normal that sponsors are coming. I was a little bit surprised, but I’m, of course, happy and
