Jasmine Paolini is learning to adapt her game to the grass after reaching the French Open final (Image: Getty)
Jasmine Paolini will be hoping to carry her form into the grass season after reaching a maiden Grand Slam final at the French Open.
The new world No. 7 reached the championship matches in both singles and doubles at Roland Garros though she was unable to lift any of the trophies.
After a career-best run, Paolini is now in search of a completely different milestone – her first match win at Wimbledon.
The Italian has lost in the first round in all three appearances in 2021, 2022 and 2023. And Paolini explained that she didn’t want to lose her “identity” on the court while figuring out how to play on the grass.
“Depends,” Paolini smiled when asked if she liked grass ahead of this week’s Eastbourne International, her only warm-up tournament for Wimbledon. “Some days I like, some days a little bit less so it’s a little bit surprising me this surface, it’s not easy to play on, it’s not easy to move on.”
The 28-year-old is something of a late bloomer, proving that you can still discover your best tennis years after turning pro. But grass courts are something she is still trying to navigate, and Paolini says her coach has given her a helpful perspective on the unfamiliar surface.
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Jasmine Paolini was the runner-up in both singles and doubles at the French Open (Image: Getty)
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“And also I feel like if you’re not focusing every point you can be broken in like nothing and then you lose the match or the set,” she added, snapping her fingers in demonstration. “So it’s a little bit different tennis but as my coach said to me, it’s still tennis. So you have to adapt but not changing too much yourself but also the key is to accept that things are different, that you have to keep playing to play better.”
The challenge for Paolini will be striking the right balance between adapting to grass and staying true to her own tactics. But it’s something she has already managed to navigate on hard courts after growing up on the clay in Italy.
She continued: “Of course I try to keep my identity on court but you have to do some adjustments for sure, maybe to move a little bit earlier the ball down the line, sometimes to serve a little bit more slice, to return maybe a little bit more aggressive.
Jasmine Paolini has never won a match at Wimbledon (Image: Getty)
“There are some changes of course, but as I said, I try to keep my identity, that technique is important to me to not change completely my game because it wouldn’t work for sure.” It’s not the first time Paolini has tried to strike the right balance when adjusting to another surface.
The world No. 7’s two titles have come on hard courts – Potoroz in 2021 and the WTA 1000 in Dubai this year – coming on the surface. And she initially made the mistake of not trusting her own game on faster courts. “I won my first WTA title in Potoroz in hard courts but there I was already playing better. Before I wasn’t believing, I was like on hard courts, I don’t have a good level and I was expecting to play on clay every year,” she explained.
“But now I’m trying to play the same tennis because I was doing something different, my coach realised that. And I was playing too flat, too close to the line and it wasn’t really my game so we did some adjustment also to my forehand, serve, and everything helped me a lot.”
With plenty of experience under her belt on the other surfaces, Paolini has a chance to prove herself at Wimbledon when she steps out at the All England Club next week with a new target on her back as a top 10 player and Grand Slam finalist.
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