A year ago, Jasmine Paolini ended a 40-year wait for Italian women's tennis by winning the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in front of her home crowd. Her straight-sets demolition of Coco Gauff in the final (6-4, 6-2) remains one of the defining moments of the 2025 season. Twelve months later, the champion returns to the Foro Italico under very different circumstances.
Seeded ninth this year, Paolini enters her title defence with a 2026 record that hardly befits a reigning champion. Nine wins against nine losses in WTA matches this season, early exits at Stuttgart and Madrid on the clay she loves: the signs have not been encouraging. The 30-year-old Italian appears to be struggling to recapture the level that carried her to Roland-Garros and Wimbledon finals in 2024 and the Roman summit in 2025.
Yet it would be unwise to count Paolini out on these courts. The Olympic gold medallist in doubles, who this week celebrates her 100th consecutive week inside the WTA top 10, has always shown an ability to rise to the biggest occasions. Her attacking game, built around a sharp backhand and superior court awareness, finds ideal expression at the Foro Italico.
The Rome draw presents a formidable challenge. Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed, is the clear favourite. Iga Swiatek, a three-time champion here, remains a constant threat on clay. But the withdrawals of Kostyuk and Vondrousova could open up pathways in a depleted field.
Rome has always brought out the best in Paolini. In 2024, she reached the quarterfinals, announcing herself to the wider public as a player insiders had long been tracking. In 2025, riding a wave of public emotion, she swept through the draw without dropping a set until the final. The question is not whether Paolini has the talent to shine here, but whether her confidence, eroded by months of inconsistent results, will allow her to rediscover that version of herself.
At 30, in a sport that does not forgive extended dips in form, each return to the Foro Italico as a local favourite could be the last. Paolini knows this, and perhaps it is that awareness of time passing that makes her tennis so electric when the Roman crowds chant her name.
