Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci. Two days ago, it was added to this list of top ten in the history of Italian tennis Jasmine Paolini. But today the Tuscan team did even more: it raised the bar, reaching that number 7 which was the minimum quota, in fact, that guaranteed by the Tarantina in the months that followed the 2015 US Open of the all-Italian final.
Francesca SchiavoneToday, she is and remains the Italian who has reached the highest peak of the WTA ranking. She reached number 4 at the beginning of 2011. Indeed, after the 2011 Australian Open, those which, after the victory at Roland Garros 2010, saw her confirm a positive trend at Slam level which she had already put together with further quarters at the US Open. In Melbourne, however, she defended the round of 16: she reached them, not without worries, and then shared with Svetlana Kuznetsova (who, moreover, was in Mirra Andreeva’s box today) the longest match in women’s Slam level. 4 hours and 44 minutes, 6-4 1-6 16-14, something that is no longer possible to achieve with the rules in force for some years. Then, in the quarterfinals, she went out against the Danish Caroline Wozniacki simply because she ran out of gas at 6-3 3-1 in her favor, which became 3-6 6-3 6-3 for the then world number 1. The Milanese held the number 4 position for three weeks until February 20th, then took it back on March 21st until May 8th and then left it and never took it back. Total: 9 weeks.
Sara Errani, however, reached his peak in 2013. He achieved this after a phase of his career in which he had reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, the final at Roland Garros and the semi-final at the US Open, all in 2012. In all this he also put in five tournaments won and several important results at WTA Premier level (of any kind, normal, 5 and Mandatory, forerunners of the current 500 and 1000). In particular, it was the semi-final at the 2013 Internazionali d’Italia that gave her the certainty of fifth place in the world on 20 May 2013. She maintained it until Wimbledon, inserting another semi-final in Paris in the meantime, then she returned in mid-August for two weeks. His total in fifth place, therefore, reaches seven weeks. In which, it must be said, he also enjoyed the leadership in doubles paired with a player who will be discussed in a couple of paragraphs.
PROMISED LAND! Jasmine Paolini dominates Andreeva and takes Italy to the final at Roland Garros after 12 years!
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Flavia Pennetta, it should never be forgotten, she is the one who made it possible to “break through the wall”. That wall was called top ten. Silvia Farina had grazed him, the first Schiavone had also approached him, but she managed to pass him. It was August 17, 2009, the day of history. Or rather, the 14th, because that was the Friday in which, by beating the Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals in Cincinnati, she secured the coveted finish line. She didn’t manage to overcome him for long, and indeed she fell into a slump of results in 2013, but she re-emerged with strength in the semi-finals at the US Open. And again in New York, her land of conquest by election, she reached her peak. She entered Flushing Meadows, in 2015, as number 26, she left as number 8, as the winner of the tournament and, two weeks later, also from number 6 WTA. It was her only week as an active player in that position, from September 28th to October 4th, before retiring at the end of the year. Which was not followed, at least for a few months, by the cancellation from the ranking, so much so that he left and returned to the top ten when he was no longer playing (the definitive removal came at the end of June 2016).
Roberta Vinci, it was mentioned previously. She shared number 1 in the doubles with Sara Errani, but for a long time the top ten goal seemed haunted for her. Almost the entire summer of 2013, and even part of the autumn, she spent chasing that number 10 in vain. Then came the rebound. The 2015 US Open ride, complete with the scalp of Serena Williams three sets from the Grand Slam, relaunched her straight into the top 20. The long wave, a series of good results and the victory at the WTA Premier in St. Petersburg contributed, in short, to the inevitable that materialized on February 22, 2016, after Dubai: number 10. Which, in short, grew until the 7th, reached the 9th of May and maintained throughout Wimbledon, precisely until the 10th of July: 8 weeks. She remained in the top ten until the US Open, where she lost in the quarterfinals to German Angelique Kerber. Since then Italy has no longer had a female top ten. Until two days ago.
Jasmine Paolini has now entered the top ten in a disruptive way. A spectacular season, the exclamation point of a journey that is not yet finished in any way. The signs were there at the end of 2023, but with 2024, the round of 16 in Melbourne, the victory in Dubai, the remarkable continuity of results, everything seemed increasingly within reach. The Parisian draw looked potentially very good. But she made it even more beautiful, with a final that opens up enormous prospects for her. Yes, because this number 7in addition to placing it in a different dimension, it can improve further because the balance of expiring points is not only not impossible, but it largely creates the conditions for at least a couple of positions to be climbed.
