Jasmine Paolini who in one hour goes to the semifinals at Wimbledon

“I’m so happy I don’t know what to say. It’s a dream to be in the semifinals. When I was a kid I used to watch the finals and hope one day I could be here. Today I played a great match, Navarro is tough. I also thank the crowd: I am grateful to be able to play another match in front of you”. Jasmine Paulini she is in the semifinals at Wimbledon, the first Italian ever. She does it by beating the American Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-1 in just 57 minutes after Jannik Sinner had spent more than four hours fighting with Medvedev only to end up losing, but Italian tennis never seems to run out of cards.

At 28, Renzo Furlan’s student is the fifth Italian in the Open Era to enter the top 10 after Schiavone (2011), Errani (2013), Pennetta (2015) and Vinci (2016). With this semifinal victory she reaches number 5. She will play on Thursday 11th July against the Croatian Donna Vekić.

Born on January 4, 1996 in Bagni di Lucca to father Ugo and mother Jacqueline with Ghanaian and Polish origins. She started playing tennis with her uncle Adriano. At 15 she entered the federal college in Tirrenia. Always good and always defined as too short because that 1.63 meter height has always been considered a difficult obstacle to overcome in front of increasingly taller colleagues. She has never worried about it. «The only question I ask myself is how I would serve if I were taller. Maybe I would serve a little better… but maybe I would be less agile».

In 2019, she entered the top 100 players in the world for the first timein 2021 in Portorose she won her first Wta 250 title. In spring 2023 for the first time in the top 50 of the world rankings. At the last Masters in Dubai the first victory in a thousand. Small steps to reach goals like the Roland Garros final at 28 years old, but with a face and a smile that show much less.