Road to WTA Finals: Paolini’s rise from dark horse to contender

Entering this season, Jasmine Paolini had one WTA 250 title and a career-high ranking at No.29. At 28-years-old, she had yet to win back-to-back main-draw matches in her 16 Grand Slam appearances. And don't even get us started on grass-court tennis. An Italian woman had never made the Wimbledon final, and Paolini looked miles away from being the one to end the drought. She had never won a tour-level match on the turf. 

Look at her now. 

Road to the WTA Finals: Sabalenka | Swiatek | Gauff | Paolini | Rybakina | Pegula | Zheng | Krejcikova

Meet the top doubles teams heading to Riyadh

Paolini's underdog campaign was a remarkable late-career u-turn. From stunning the field to win the biggest title of her career at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to her remarkable display of versatility over the summer, where she made back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Paolini evolved into a force in the Hologic WTA Tour's Top 10.

New faces, big dreams: What's at stake for Zheng, Paolini at WTA Finals

While other players may see the WTA Finals as a place to prove something, Paolini sees it as a reward. After building up her confidence over the past 10 months against the game's elite, she is excited and eager to test herself and bolster her growing self-belief.

"I step on court and I say, OK, it's tough, but I have a chance," Paolini said earlier this year. "Before [I] was, like, I cannot win these matches. I have to do a miracle.

"But now I step on court, and I say, OK, I can have my chance. I have to play well, of course, but I have chances."

Season snapshot:
2024 tour-level win-loss record: 39-18
2024 titles: 1 (Dubai)
Grand Slam finals: 2 (Roland Garros, Wimbledon)
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 0

Defining moment: Paolini enjoyed four of the biggest milestones of her career this year, including winning her first WTA 1000 title, making her first Grand Slam final and winning Olympic gold in doubles. But her run to the Wimbledon final encapsulated everything about the Italian's unlikely breakthrough season. She came into the year without a single tour-level main-draw win on grass and was 0-3 at Wimbledon.

The highlight of that Wimbledon fortnight was her gritty 2-6, 6-4, 7-6[8] win over Donna Vekic in the semifinals. Not only did the match go down as the longest Wimbledon women's semifinal in history, it also minted Paolini as the first Italian woman to ever make the Wimbledon singles final. 

Social buzz corner: Two of the biggest grins in tennis came together for an iconic snap.

Notable stats:

• Won her first WTA 1000 title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
• Made her first two Grand Slam finals this season, becoming the first woman since Serena Williams to make the final at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season. She is just the fifth woman since 1999 to complete the feat, joining Steffi Graf (1999), Serena Williams (2002, 2015 and 2016), Venus Williams (2002) and Justine Henin (2006).

• Along with Sara Errani, delivered Italy its first Olympic gold medal in tennis by winning in doubles
• Entered the season with just four career wins at the Grand Slams and notched 18 this year, the highest number for any Italian woman in the Open Era and tied with Aryna Sabalenka for the most this season
• The fourth Italian to qualify for the WTA Finals in singles, joining Francesca Schiavone (2010), Sara Errani (2012-13) and Flavia Pennetta (2015)

From the camera roll: Paolini's pure elation and disbelief after beating Vekic in the longest Wimbledon women's semifinal ever made this snap a memorable one.

Hot shot: One shot? How about a 14-minute highlight reel of her remarkable work at Wimbledon. She certainly did not look like a player who came into this year winless on grass.

Memorable quote: Paolini's honesty and humility shined bright during her run to her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, when she admitted it was a day she truly never even allowed herself to dream of.

"I was dreaming to become a professional, and I never dreamed to be No.1, Grand Slam champion. Never dreamed so big. Never dreamed to be in the Top 10, but I was hoping, but not really believing it. I think step by step I started to believe, to dream, but for closer things. Not too far. I think it's important to dream, but I started to dream I think step by step. Not, you know, too far away.

"For me it's surprising to see interviews from Nole [Novak Djokovic] when he was a kid saying that he wanted to be World No.1 and Wimbledon. I watch this, and I said, it's unbelievable that you can dream as a child. I didn't dream it when I was a child. It's unbelievable to see Jannik [Sinner] when he was 15 years old say that his dream was to be No.1.

"For me it's something different. I never dreamed to be in a Grand Slam final, and I'm here. I'm so happy, but it's something different. I'm a different kind of person I think."