Wimbledon, Jasmine Paolini in the final. Vekic KO. “These are crazy months”

Wimbledon, Jasmine Paolini in the final. Vekic KO. “These last months have been crazy for me”

“It was really tough, at the beginning I struggled a lot, but I kept telling myself to improve a little bit because I was serving really badly.. I tried to think about what I had to do on the pitch point after point and I repeated it to myself – explained Jasmine Paolini after her victory against Donna Vekic in the semifinal at Wimbledon -. There is no better place to fight for every ball. It is beautiful to play in front of this crowd. For a tennis player this is the place to play. Thank you for supporting me”.

The Italian tennis player – world number 5 in the WTA rankings that will be released on Monday and in her second Slam final in a row (after the one against Roland Garros in early June – played in front of her parents and brother, who supported her even when Vekic seemed to have the match within reach: “I think it wasn’t easy for my family to experience a match like this, an emotional rollercoaster. They’ve always supported me and for that I’m grateful to them,” Paolini emphasized. These last few months have been crazy for me. I still have to realize it, but I’m trying to focus on what I have to do on the pitch and live well what I’m doing. Playing in this stadium is a dream. I used to watch the finals as a kid, but today I live day by day, even if it’s still a crazy situation.”

Wimbledon, historic Jasmine Paolini in the final, Vekic KO in three sets

It was the third set tie-break that decided the first finalist in the women’s singles at Wimbledon. The Italian Jasmin Paolini is the first ever finalist for Italy in the London Slam. The world number 7 won after a very difficult match against the Croatian Donna Vekic, number 37 WTA, in three comeback sets with the score of 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).

Paolini, after losing the first set, dominated by Vekic in 35 minutes, for 6-2, reacts in a balanced second set, decided by the break in the tenth game, for 6-4. A match of suffering and always chasing for Paolini who in the third and decisive set goes ahead with Vekic who cancels the first match point for Paolini on 5-4 in the third. Then the Croatian cancels a second match point on 6-5, but on the third occasion on 9-8 in the tie-break of the decisive set the error of Vekic gives the greatest joy to the Italian tennis player.

With her success against Vekic, Paolini becomes the first Italian ever in the final at Wimbledon and the first tennis player since Serena Williams to reach the final at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in a row, with a heart-pounding match with the longest semifinal at Wimbledon. On Saturday, the Italian awaits the final for the throne of England against the winner of the challenge between the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, number 4 in the ranking, and the Czech Barbora Krejcikova, 32nd Wta.