With Paolini 'feeling great', Italian hopes are sky high at Paris 2024
With the kind of form Jasmine Paolini is in, it is not much of a stretch to imagine her ending her second Olympic Games with a medal around her neck.
Bursting with confidence off the back of consecutive Grand Slam singles finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this summer, she has begun her campaign at Paris 2024 in a manner that suggests a place on the podium is the very least of her ambitions.
Paolini defeated Ana Bogdan on Sunday for her first Olympic singles victory (having lost to Petra Kvitova on her debut at Tokyo 2020), and dispatched Magda Linette 6-4 6-1 early on Monday afternoon while showcasing the perfect blend of infectious joy and ruthless attack.
Her confidence, understandably, is sky high.
“Yeah, I'm feeling great,” she said. “I think I have many matches this year in my tennis, in my [legs]. I think it helps when you step on court, you're more confident, of course.”
Paolini has won 14 of her last 17 matches, 10 of those in straights sets, but her recent record isn’t enough to let her get carried away before her work in Paris is done.
“In tennis, you never know,” she said. “Every match is different. You have to be ready.”
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Paolini has entered both the singles and doubles at Paris 2024 and is equally as strong a contender for doubles gold alongside Sara Errani, having reached the women’s doubles final at the Grand Slam event here in Paris less than two months ago. The pair combined to beat New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Lulu Sun 6-2 6-3.
There are different emotions to overcome, of course, for players when competing under their national flag, and the noisier Olympic crowd this week has made even the smallest of courts at Roland Garros something of a pressure cooker.
“I love it,” beamed Paolini. “But I also have to adapt because you feel more pressure because you're also playing for your country.”
If this summer’s anything to go by, pressure has hardly proved much of an obstacle for her so far.
Paolini is hoping to be joined in the third round of the singles by compatriot Lorenzo Musetti, who is set to face Mariano Navone in his men's singles second round contest on Tuesday.