A few days ago, Italian women won the final competition of the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga. Thus, they won the title of unofficial world champions in women's team tennis, as this tournament is often called. The Italian tennis players defeated the Slovaks in the final and the Polish team in the semi-final.
The Italians' holiday atmosphere was spoiled by nominations for the Women's Organization plebiscite Tennis. Jasmine Paolini was missing in the “Greatest Progress of the Year” category. The nominees were: Danielle Collins, Marta Kostiuk, Diana Sznajder, Emma Navarro and Anna Kalińska.
Paolini omitted
Paolini's absence is surprising, because we are talking about a tennis player who has made incredible progress in the last 12 months. The 28-year-old did not record spectacular results in both singles and doubles until the start of the 2024 season. This year it broke through, achieving, among others, to the Wimbledon finals and Roland Garros (in Paris also in doubles), winning the tournament WTA 1000 in Dubai or in doubles, winning the Olympic gold medal with Sara Errani. She started the season as the 29th singles player in the world, and finished as fourth.
Despite this, Jasmine Paolini, who has Polish roots, was not appreciated by the organizers of the WTA plebiscite. The Italians do not hide their surprise. – The players who deserve to be nominated include: Anna Kalińska (they mention her because of her relationship with Jannik Sinner – editor's note). It is surprising that Paolini is not among the five nominees, although her progress seems unquestionable – we read on the website sport.virgillio.it.
Journalist Marco Mazzoni from Livetennis.it sees it similarly. – The lack of nominations for Jasmine Paolini in this category is a shame for all women's sports. What more should Jasmine do? This is such a bad decision that it speaks for itself. In recent years, the WTA has lost credibility – from simple matters such as managing its own website to political issues – comments Mazzoni in an interview with Sport.pl.
The most famous Italian tennis portal Ubitennis also noted that “Paolini's absence in the fight for the award for the one who has made the greatest progress is quite a surprise.” Our other interlocutor, Diego Barbiani from Oktennis.it, sees it differently.
– I'm not particularly surprised by the lack of nominations. I think she deserved the award in this category, but this season she achieved something more and in a sense “advanced” to a higher category. Two Grand Slam singles finals, a gold medal and success in the Billie Jean King Cup are enough for her to fight for the title of the best player of the year. I don't think she will win, but on the other hand, this nomination suits her better – says an Italian journalist in an interview with Sport.pl.
Jasmine Paolini was nominated by the WTA in another category – “Tennis Player of the Year”, alongside Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Świątek, Coco Gauff and Qinwen Zheng. In this group, Sabalenka, the current number one in the world, seems to be the favorite to win.
Tennis players in the shadow of tennis players
Despite winning the Billie Jean King Cup, the Italian tennis players remain in the shadow of their teammates. That's because the Italians also reached the Davis Cup final, where they beat the Netherlands on Sunday. In turn, Jannik Sinner is currently the leader of the ATP ranking. For this reason, Italian women's tennis, despite its obvious successes, does not enjoy such media interest fans.
However, the captain of the BJKC team, Tatiana Garbin, has her own opinion on this matter. – Unfortunately, we live in a patriarchal society, not only in… sports. Therefore, the example of young women who have achieved success is important for new generations. In Italy we are still behind, it is a fight that must continue until there is no more room for women, she said after winning the unofficial world championship in Malaga.
– In Italy, all eyes are on the Davis Cup today, but there is also a lot of talk about Tatiana Garbin, who may resign from her role. It would be a great pity, because she is a trainer with great charisma, and due to her serious illness (she has been fighting cancer for a year – editor's note), she is loved even more by everyone. Let's hope that he decides to stay with the team, Barbiani tells us.
Italian interlocutors praise Garbin, among others. for non-obvious choices. In the semi-final against Poland in Malaga, she bet on Lucia Bronzetti in the singles. She unexpectedly defeated Magda Linette, which complicated the situation of our country's national team. Especially since the Italians played a well-matched doubles match between Paolini and Errani at the end. Bronzetti also scored her first point in the final against the Slovaks.
For the fifth time, Italian tennis players won the team tournament, years ago called the Federation Cup, and since 2020 organized under the name Billie Jean King Cup, in honor of the legendary American player. Last year, the Italians lost to the Canadians in the final.