Jasmine Paolini

Jasmine Paolini (born 4 January 1996) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 4 in singles by the WTA, the joint-highest-ranked Italian woman in singles (alongside Francesca Schiavone), and No. 3 in doubles. She is a major champion in doubles at the 2025 French Open, partnering Sara Errani. Representing her country, Jasmine Paolini won an Olympic gold medal in doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, also with Errani. Paolini has won three WTA Tour-level singles titles and ten in doubles, including two singles and five doubles WTA 1000 titles. Jasmine Paolini is also a three-time major finalist, contesting the singles and doubles finals of the 2024 French Open and the singles final of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. She led Italy to the 2024 and 2025 Billie Jean King Cup titles, winning the Heart Award for the 2024.

Early life

Jasmine Paolini was born in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. Her father, Ugo, is Italian and her mother, Jacqueline, is of Ghanaian and Polish descent, originally from Łódź. In 2001, at the age of 5, Jasmine Paolini was introduced to tennis by her father and uncle, and trained at the Mirafiume Tennis Club in Bagni di Lucca in her youth.

In 2011, at the age of 15, Jasmine Paolini moved to Tirrenia for training. Her younger brother, William, also plays tennis.

Career

Juniors

In January 2013, Jasmine Paolini won her only junior title at the J4 Wilson ITF Junior Classic in Bergheim. She made her Junior Grand Slam debut after qualifying for the US Open later that year. She reached the third round in singles, before losing to eventual finalist Tornado Alicia Black. She also reached the third round of the Australian Open in January 2014.

2015 - 2017: WTA Tour debut, first 100k title

In May 2015, Jasmine Paolini received a wildcard into the main draw of the doubles tournament at the Italian Open with Nastassja Burnett. The pair lost in the first round to Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

In June 2017, Jasmine Paolini won her first 100k title at Marseille where she defeated Taylor Townsend, Sara Cakarevic, Anhelina Kalinina, Dalma Gálfi, and top seed Tatjana Maria. She made her WTA Tour singles debut in the following month at the Swedish Open but lost in the first round to fifth seed Carla Suárez Navarro.

She also entered the Guangzhou International Open and lost in the first round to third seed Anett Kontaveit.

2018 - 2020: WTA Tour wins, top 100

After failing to qualify for the 2018 Australian Open, Jasmine Paolini represented Italy in the Fed Cup against Spain in the World Group II and against Belgium in the World Group play-offs. In April 2018, she recorded her first WTA Tour win at the Copa Colsanitas against qualifier Lizette Cabrera. The following month, as a lucky loser at the Prague Open, she upset third seed Daria Kasatkina and defeated Anna Karolína Schmiedlová to reach her first WTA quarterfinal.

In May 2019, she made her WTA 1000 singles debut as a wildcard entrant at the Italian Open, but lost in the first round to Sofia Kenin. Later that month, she qualified for her first Grand Slam tournament at the French Open by defeating Anna Zaja, Rebecca Šramková, and Allie Kiick in the qualifiers without dropping a set. She then reached the quarterfinals of the Palermo Ladies Open, defeating Laura Siegemund and Irina-Camelia Begu before losing to top seed Kiki Bertens. She also qualified for the main draw in Guangzhou and reached the quarterfinals. After reaching the final of the Tokyo Open in November 2019, Jasmine Paolini reached a new career-high of world No. 96. She was the first Italian to reach the top 100 since Camila Giorgi in 2012.

In 2020, Jasmine Paolini entered directly into the main draws of the Australian Open and the US Open, but failed to advance past the first round of either. She recorded her first WTA 1000 level win at the Italian Open by defeating Anastasija Sevastova in the first round. At the French Open, which was postponed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jasmine Paolini recorded her first major win by defeating Aliona Bolsova in the first round. She also recorded her first doubles win at a major, partnering Varvara Gracheva and defeating Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok in the first round.

2021: Tour singles & doubles titles

At the Gippsland Trophy in February 2021, Paolini reached her first WTA 500 third round, defeating Rebecca Marino and tenth seed Wang Qiang, before losing to eighth seed Karolína Muchová. She reached her first WTA 125 final at Saint-Malo by defeating Elsa Jacquemot, Nina Stojanović, Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, and Varvara Gracheva, before ultimately losing to Viktorija Golubic. She reached her second consecutive second round at the French Open with a win over Stefanie Vögele.

In June, she won her first WTA 125 title seeded third at the Bol Open, defeating Viktória Hrunčáková, Olga Govortsova, Kristína Kučová, top seed Anna Blinkova, and second seed Arantxa Rus. The following month, she won her first WTA Tour doubles title at the Hamburg European Open, partnering Jil Teichmann.

At the Summer Olympics, Jasmine Paolini represented Italy in both singles and doubles. In singles, she lost in the first round to tenth seed Petra Kvitová. In doubles, she and partner Sara Errani, who had entered as alternates, reached the second round by upsetting the eighth-seeded team of Nicole Melichar and Alison Riske.

In September, she won her first career title at the Slovenia Open in Portorož, defeating sixth seed Dayana Yastremska, Anna Kalinskaya, fourth seed Sorana Cîrstea, second seed Yulia Putintseva, and third seed Alison Riske.

The following month, she reached her first WTA 1000 third round, after qualifying for the Indian Wells Open and defeating Mai Hontama and 14th seed Elise Mertens. She ended the season by reaching the semifinals of the Courmayeur Ladies Open and the quarterfinals of the Linz Open.

2022: Top 50, first top-10 win

At the Melbourne Summer Set 1, Jasmine Paolini and partner Sara Errani reached the doubles final, but lost to the second-seeded team of Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula. Following the Australian Open, Paolini entered the WTA top 50 for the first time. She reached back-to-back third rounds at the Indian Wells Open, upsetting second seed Aryna Sabalenka in the second round for her first top 10 win.

Jasmine Paolini reached back-to-back WTA 250 quarterfinals in Palermo and Warsaw. Attempting to defend her title in Portorož, Paolini defeated Tara Würth and Kaja Juvan, before losing to eventual champion Kateřina Siniaková in the quarterfinals. She reached her second WTA final at the Transylvania Open, defeating sixth seed Marta Kostyuk, Dayana Yastremska, Jule Niemeier, and seventh seed Wang Xiyu, before ultimately losing to qualifier Anna Blinkova. She ended her season by winning the 100k Torneig Internacional Els Gorchs.

2023: Italian No. 1, BJK Cup final

Jasmine Paolini's 2023 season started out slow, with first-round exits at the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, and Madrid. She won her second WTA 125 title in May, seeded fourth at the Firenze Ladies Open, and reached the final of the Makarska International Championships the following month. In July, she reached the final at the Palermo Ladies Open as the fourth seed, defeating Arantxa Rus, Dayana Yastremska, top seed Daria Kasatkina, and Sara Sorribes Tormo, before losing to second seed Zheng Qinwen.

Jasmine Paolini qualified for the Cincinnati Open, where she reached the quarterfinals with wins over Marta Kostyuk and Cristina Bucșa, and an early retirement by Elena Rybakina. The following month, she reached the first WTA 1000 doubles semifinal of her career, partnering Mayar Sherif, in Guadalajara.

At the China Open, Jasmine Paolini reached the third round in singles with wins over Beatriz Haddad Maia and Yuan Yue. Following this result, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 31 on 9 October and surpassed Elisabetta Cocciaretto as the No. 1 Italian female tennis player. At the Zhengzhou Open, she reached the semifinals defeating Moyuka Uchijima, world No. 10 Caroline Garcia, and Laura Siegemund, before losing to eventual champion Zheng Qinwen. The following week, she reached the final of the Jasmin Open in both singles and doubles. As the top seed in singles, she defeated Alizé Cornet, Petra Marčinko, sixth seed Lucia Bronzetti, and fourth seed Lesia Tsurenko, before losing to second seed and defending champion Elise Mertens. In doubles, she and partner Sara Errani won the title after saving a match point in the semifinals.

In the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November, Paolini and Team Italy defeated teams from France, Germany, and Slovenia, before losing to Team Canada in the final.