‘Queen’ Jasmine Paolini is the ‘lioness who NEVER gives up’

• Jasmine Paolini is the first Italian woman to contest a women’s Wimbledon final
• Her journey started in Tuscany and involved her choosing tennis over swimming
• Many of her extended family are watching back in Italy with tears in their eyes 

Back home in the Tuscan commune of Bagni di Luca, Jasmine Paolini’s grandma watched with tears in her eyes.

In a region famed for its hot springs and its tight-knit community of just over 6,000 people, Queen Jasmine, as she was dubbed on the front page of Tuttosport on Friday morning, is the talk of town after reaching the final at Wimbledon.

Despite dropping the opening set to Donna Vekic, Paolini’s never-say-die attitude kicked in and she clawed her way back into the match before holding her nerve in a deciding set tie-break to edge it.

‘What a great feat,’ her grandma told La Nazione.

‘I was afraid at certain moments, but I had faith that she would recover and find the strength to win.

‘She’s a lioness who never gives up. What a celebration for my family too, who I saw cheering live on television. Another very strong emotion!’

Mum Jacqueline, dad Ugo, and brother William, were all sat in the player box to see Paolini win 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, but for the rest of her excited family it was an amalgamation of plans to see her make history.

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That’s unless you were Paolini’s uncle Adriano who, in what has seemingly become a tradition of his during this fairytale run to the Wimbledon final, instead chose to walk his dog before it was over.

‘It’s almost a habit now, almost a ceremony, but it has always brought me luck so far,’ he told local media of missing the thrilling final set versus Vekic.

‘Only at the end of the match did I learn that Jasmine had won and reached the final. I can’t find the words to comment on this new great feat of hers, because that’s what it is!’

In truth, few of her legion of fans here could say they saw this coming.

Prior to defeating Katie Boulter at Eastbourne on June 27, Paolini had never won a tour-level match on grass.

Fast forward 16 days and she’s now two victorious sets away from greatness.

‘There is great happiness, even if for now I haven’t taken it all in,’ her dad told Supersport.

‘I haven’t yet taken in Paris and then I will think about Wimbledon. But it is a dream.’

Asked if he ever imagined the pocket rocket that is Paolini, who stands at just 5ft3′ would come so close to a Grand Slam on grass, Ugo was decisive in that the family never lost hope.

‘We always believed in it, we always supported her,’ he added.

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‘Above all her mother, who always took her everywhere. Her character is like her mother’s – like a train. She has been like this since she was a child. When she gets something in her head, she goes full steam ahead.’

Paolini’s journey from her first rally to a Wimbledon final started as an excitable tot aged five who was more drawn to swimming than the rigours of a tennis court.

‘I remember that my father and my mother told me, you have to choose one sport to do,’ Paolini explained recently.

‘In Bagni Di Lucca there was tennis or a swimming pool and because of my uncle who was playing tennis, I decided to go to play.

‘I enjoyed it a lot ever since I started it. I really enjoyed to be at the tennis club. We were like a big family and I had friends there. It was really nice.’

Paolini, who has risen to a new career high at world No 5, may not have registered on floating fans’ radars until recently, but her rapid ascension comes as no surprise to some of her old adversaries.

‘She was already unbeatable,’ one of her adversaries in juniors told Italian media this week. ‘You could see she was from another planet.’

Much has been made of Paolini’s mixed heritage – her mother is from Poland while her grandfather has Ghanaian roots – but one of the keys to her story has been her work with coach Renzo Furlan.

The two linked up in 2015, initially as a part-time arrangement while Paolini was in the world’s top 500. His influence on her ascension, which took her to the borders of the top 100 between 2017 and 2019, is undeniable to those who know her best.

Consistency was the biggest issue with her game – she managed to win just three WTA Tour matches in 2018, six in 2019 and six in 2020. It wasn’t enough to make a lasting impression on the Tour.

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Cue the turning point. Pandemic hits, Furlan becomes her full-time coach and within a year Paolini was toasting 20 wins in 2021 with the top 50 now in touching distance. Even with some ups and downs since, the partnership has been beyond both of their wildest dreams.

In 2024 she has made the fourth round of the Australian Open, won the title in Dubai, made the final of the French Open, has a 9-1 record on grass this season and boasts the most Grans Slam wins this year with 15.

Despite her mesmerising season, far and away the greatest of the 28-year-old’s burgeoning career to date, she started here as something of an afterthought, even with an army of Italian journalists in tow.

In her first press conference at this tournament after beating Sara Sorribes, interest was minimal. She faced just two questions before the moderator wrapped it up.

A 7-6, 6-2 win over Greet Minnen in round two saw her face just three questions afterwards.

It wasn’t until after her third round win over Bianca Andreescu that interest in the press room, as well as in the stands, exploded for the smiley Paolini.

Soon security guards wanted fist bumps in the morning, fans queued patiently for selfies and even the great Billie Jean King collared the bubbly Italian for a photo which was shared on Instagram.

By reaching the final, Paolini became the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to make back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon finals.

And yet while her infectious personality has won over an army of fans over the fortnight here – she had singer-songwriter Pink skipping with glee as the met on the practice courts on Friday – it is one of the topics that has irked her.

‘I hate this cumbersome comparison,’ she groaned. ‘But of course her service here would be really useful for me.’

And don’t dare suggest her run is in any way a fluke.

‘Nothing happens by chance,’ she added. ‘There has been a lot of hard world, And sacrifice. I am not someone who believes in luck or destiny.’

Her mum, dad and brother flew in in time for her semi-final against Vekic and many more family members will gather in the local bar to watch her on the big screen.

Paolini may not believe in destiny but as the first Italian woman to ever make a Wimbledon final, it is hard to argue that the stars are not aligning for her to shine on Centre Court.