BILLIE JEAN KING CUP

November 8, 2023

Jasmine Paolini

Team Italy

Press Conference

J. PAOLINI/C. Garcia

7-6, 5-7, 6-4

Team France - 0

Team Italy - 2

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. Congratulations. That was a brilliant win. Can you just talk about how you're feeling right now and also your assessment of the match, how you think you managed to win that one and maybe how much having played her and beaten her a few weeks ago helped you today?

JASMINE PAOLINI: Yes, I think I played a really good match. With her, it's always, you know, a tough and tight score. She's serving very well, especially here indoors. But I'm happy how I stayed there every point.

Yeah, maybe the win that I got in Zhengzhou, in China, a little bit helped me. But, yeah, I'm happy that I won today for my nation.

Q. It was such a tight match. Obviously she was ahead in the first-set tiebreak, you came back to win, she was ahead in the third set, and you came back then, as well. Did you sense that you were going to be more solid in those big moments and she might make some errors?

JASMINE PAOLINI: I was nervous, too, but I was just, you know, thinking, play point by point. The captain also said me this, just to stay there, that maybe the chance can come. Maybe not, but maybe yes (smiling).

It came, so yeah, I managed to win the match, but wasn't easy, because, you know, some games when she was serving was so fast, so easy, so easy games. She was serving, like, 180 minimum. Yeah, but I'm happy how I stayed there every point.

Q. There were so many breaks of serve today from both of you. I think you were down a break in the first set, and then you got that one back and won the tiebreak. It just seemed to be a pattern throughout the match. Did that help in a way in the third set when you're down a break, get it back? Every time you're down a break, it's like, you know, I can break serve. You don't doubt that you can do it?

JASMINE PAOLINI: Yeah, I think the first set there wasn't a break, I think, so there was -- no. Yeah, in the third set I made one break, and then I said, It's okay. I'm down in the score, but I can do it again.

Yeah, I think that it helped me, and also I think that I started to see more where she was serving. I was a prepared a little bit earlier.

But it's tough, because when she serve well, it's impossible to return for me (smiling).

Q. I just wanted to ask more generally about your season, and in particular, the second half of the season since Wimbledon, you have had so many great results. What's changed? What's clicked for you, do you think, to have these results and really climb the rankings?

JASMINE PAOLINI: I think I'm more consistent. I played many tournaments at high level. Yeah, I faced also good players, top players. I think that helped me a lot. I lost some of them very easy, but I tried, you know, every time to get better, to learn something from the loss.

I think now I'm more, like, confidence maybe, but, you know, it's not easy, because every tournament every day it's different in tennis. A lot can change, so it's important to stay there, to work, and yeah, just to learn about the matches.