Jasmine Paolini turned professional in 2013; however, the 28-year-old Italian became a household name among tennis fans in 2024.
Paolini never won a WTA grass-court match before this year's Wimbledon. She will play in the Wimbledon Championship on Saturday. Tennis analysts do not understand how she turned around her grass-court game this year to make this amazing run.
She becomes the fifth woman in the past 25 years to compete in the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same calendar year. Those current and future Hall of Fame players include Steffi Graf, Justine Henin, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams.
These are mind-boggling facts for a player who is not the face of Italian tennis. Her counterpart, World No. 1 Jannik Sinner holds that position. If she wins on Saturday, she could have the same number of Grand Slam titles as he does.
She is also an outstanding doubles player who was a French Open finalist in both singles and doubles. Ironically, her opponent on Saturday, Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova is an established singles and doubles player who is a Grand Slam champion in both disciplines. No one would have predicted this final when Wimbledon began.