"Many players simply hit the ball while she plays tennis" - Mouratoglou has high praise for Paolini after Roland Garrus run

Saturday, 15 June 2024 at 03:20

The 2024 Roland Garros tournament saw history being made on several levels. However, the biggest story was Jasmine Paolini's incredible run to the final, a feat that saw her lauded by renown coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

Jasmine Paolini had been having a breakthrough season, winning the biggest title of her career in Dubai earlier this year. However, the Italian star took it a step further by reaching the Roland Garros final, falling to a red hot Iga Swiatek in straight sets.

Mouratoglou highlight's Paolini's incredible style of play

Nonetheless, Paolini's achievement did not go unnoticed as she was celebrated by the entire tennis community. Among those praising her performance was famous French coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who highlighted Paolini's incredible efforts despite being one of the smaller players on tour.

"Jasmine Paolini is one meter and 63 centimeters tall and reached the Roland Garros final," wrote Mouratoglou in a tribute on Instagram. "In today's tennis you can be an athlete of not exceptional stature but still be an incredible player. When you are tall you have certain advantages, when you are less tall you have others types of advantages. When you are tall it is obviously important for the serve, for the opening of the arms and you can create strength more easily.

"However, when you are smaller in stature you can move in an incredible way on the court both laterally and forwards. Paolini has a great gift, she has great power, she plays tennis and is an extremely combative player. Paolini moves very well on the court and she also has the great gift of being skilled at creating acceleration. Many tennis players simply hit the ball while she plays tennis. She sees the court, looks for angles, and that's a big strength of her game.

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"There are many other players who move on the court with greater discipline. I'm not saying she isn't an undisciplined player but she is a more creative player because she loves the game. If you are a short player, you need to be aware that movement is something incredible, something you can invest in to improve your game. We need to develop this as much as we can."

Arthur Ajayi

Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.

As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.

With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.

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