Join Us 
Jasmine Paolini said she was “scared to dream too much” after she lost the Wimbledon final to Barbora Krejcikova. This letdown happened just a few weeks after she lost the French Open final too. Paolini, who’s the seventh-best player in the world, got the match even after a rough start but ended up losing 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 on Centre Court. Last month at Roland Garros, the world’s top player Iga Swiatek beat her, and Paolini won three games.
Despite these problems, Paolini has made a big splash becoming the first Italian woman to get to a Wimbledon singles final. The 28-year-old had never gone past the second round of a Grand Slam until she made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open earlier this year. In the next rankings, she’ll be number five in the world, which is a huge jump from where she ended last season at 30th.
Paolini is still set on doing “big stuff” even after her tough losses in Paris and London. She talked about feeling good and bad at the same time saying, “I’m sometimes a bit afraid to hope for too much. I don’t know. I’m going back to practice trying to focus on now, like I’ve said a bunch of times. This is what I want, and my team too, to keep playing this well for as long as we can. If I keep playing like this, I think I might have a shot at doing some cool things.”
Her feelings were a jumble of happiness and letdown. “I was hoping to get my hands on the trophy today, but things didn’t work out,” she said. “I’m just glad to be where I am now, number five in the world. It’s hard to believe . I made it to two Grand Slam finals. I should be pleased with how I did. But I’m also a bit bummed out.”
