Jasmine Paolini’s magic green carpet ride to the Wimbledon final

It began a few weeks ago in sunny Paris, an inspirational if not uncommon Grand Slam story featuring an unheralded contender emerging as a surprise finalist and overnight star. But this version took on a potent, credulity-straining afterlife in the ensuing weeks—one that now has 28-year old Jasmine Paolini in her second consecutive Grand Slam final, in position to win Wimbledon come Saturday afternoon.

“The last month has been crazy for me, I think,” Paolini admitted in the on-court interview following her two-hour and 51-minute win over veteran Donna Vekic in the longest women’s semifinal in Wimbledon history.

“Now I’m going to do an ice bath because my legs are a little bit tired.”

It was no wonder. Paolini is the first woman to fight her way to the final at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year since Serena Williams in 2016. Given that Paolini is an Italian dynamo who must stretch the tape to hit 5’4”, and had never been in a Grand Slam final until roughly a month ago, that accomplishment would appear to be about all that Williams and Paolini have in common.

But hold that thought for a moment.

While Paolini is not in any sense an intimidating presence, nor does she deliver one of the game’s greatest serves—both hallmarks of Williams’ game—she has Serena’s aggressive gene, the energy of a supernova, and terrific speed and timing. She may border on the diminutive, but she really gets after the ball and powders with impunity. She is also courageous. Which helps. A lot.

“Today was really, really tough,” she said after prevailing in a riveting semifinal loaded with plot twists and pathos. “At the beginning I was really struggling. [Vekic] was serving really well. She made me run (for) every ball. I wasn’t serving well. I was just trying to repeat to myself to keep going, try to stay close to her, just believe that the match can turn whenever. It worked, I have to say.”

It worked because Vekic, who was playing her fifth three-set match of her tournament, was running on fumes in the late going, heroically rising to the challenge—just as Paolini had stepped up when she needed to, in the second set.

“I thought I was going to die in the third set,” Vekic said after Paolini won in a match-tiebreaker, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8). At one point, Vekic sat in her chair unable to suppress tears as she pressed an ice-pack against her right forearm. “I had so much pain in my arm, in my leg. It was not easy out there, but I will recover.”

The statistics bear out that this was a down-in-dirty battle, pitting Vekic’s outstanding serve and first-strike instincts against Paolini’s variety, speed and surprising stores of power. The most glaring statistical difference was Vekic’s higher number of unforced errors (57 in total, 25 more than Paolini). On Saturday, Paolini will meet Barbora Krejcikova, another unexpected guest, in an intriguing final.

It’s difficult to digest just how far Paolini has traveled in the past month, especially in light of the opportunity that awaits. In Paris, about halfway through the tournament, Paolini recounted just how modest her tennis ambitions had always been. She said she enjoyed the game, seeking only a professional career once her talent began to pay off.

“I never dreamed to be, you know, No. 1, or a Grand Slam champion. I never dreamed so big,” she said. Even as Paolini watched compatriots performing at a high level at majors, she couldn’t see herself in their shoes.

“To imagine that it can be myself also was tough. Now it’s something crazy for me. I’m really happy. Also surprised. Yeah, that's the feeling.”

Yet here we are, and Paolini hasn’t had to modify her philosophy or behavior to get here. Her sunny disposition has remained such, as if she’s one of those “just happy to be here” pilgrims. She expresses her emotions and exudes sheer joy, even in moments of critical importance.

Those are Paolini’s default modes, but when you look more closely you’ll see that this is a sweet but tough cookie. In difficult moments, she sets her jaw and leads with her chin. When she is waiting to return a serve, Paolini has the furrowed brow of a painter trying to work out some challenge on her canvas.

And like that visionary artist, Paolini does and says things that aren’t conventional. There’s her relentless good cheer, of course, but also her openness. Emma Navarro has given Paolini plenty of trouble in past matches, but before meeting her in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Paolini said, “Mentally it was tough to play against her.” She added in the next breath, “I love the way she plays.”

My coach was telling me that I could play well here. I was saying, ‘Okay, okay, okay, but I wasn’t believing in that. Jasmine Paolini, at Wimbledon

Paolini’s results at Roland Garros, while surprising, were understandable considering the focus on the clay game in Italy. But on Wimbledon grass? That was a whole other story. Paolini still has a losing record on the surface for her career (12-13, including just four wins before 2024). But she surprised herself with how comfortable she felt on grass at the recent Eastbourne Wimbledon tune-up, where she reached the semifinals.

“Maybe I didn’t realize before [that I could play well on grass],” she said. “My coach was telling me that I could play well here. I was saying, ‘Okay, okay, okay, but I wasn’t believing in that.”

Paolini proved herself wrong, but denied that working out the grass-court game involved an “aha!” moment, or a significant change in how she plays.

“I don’t know, I think I can hit the ball really, really strong,” she said. “But also for me I can defend as well and for me movement is important. I didn’t have to change nothing, I just had to adapt more because the grass is slippery.”

Living the kind of Cinderella story that Paolini has authored for herself can be a disorienting experience that leaves a player stressed out and cycling through endless “what ifs” until the narrative collides with reality. That doesn’t seem to be a danger for Paolini, who is enjoying her ride on Wimbledon’s magic green carpet.

“I'm trying to live the present,” she said during her last press conference. “[Trying] to enjoy what I’m doing and don't forget where I am. I think it’s a really privileged position, and I have to keep that in focus.

“Also, sometimes I’m trying to say to myself, ‘Okay, jokes apart, enjoy, but stay also focused and think about what you have to do to step on court and give the 100 percent that you have.’ It’s a balance, I think, between enjoying and being focused.”

Paolini said she suspects she may be nervous on Saturday, but for the moment she felt relaxed. She reminded her interlocutors in the press room that, “I’m the same person. I’m doing the same things. [But] Yeah, I’m surprised a little bit how I’m managing this.”

It may be helpful for Paolini to remember that she only has to keep managing it the way she has for the past month for less than 48 hours.