Paolini’s surprise appearance adds to Polish flavour of Roland-Garros final against Swiatek

Jasmine Paolini may be Italian, but she has Polish roots on her mother’s side of the family. Paolini will face Poland’s Iga Swiatek in the Roland-Garros final on Saturday.

Jasmine Paolini – Action Plus / Panoramic

Ricky Dimon

June 6, 2024

One player from Poland in the women’s singles final at Roland-Garros is nothing new. After all, Iga Swiatek has won this tournament three times in the last four years.

However, she isn’t the only finalist with a Polish connection this time around. The world No 1’s opponent on Saturday afternoon is Jasmine Paolini, whose mother is of Polish and Ghanaian descent. Paolini’s maternal grandmother continues to reside in Lodz, Poland.

As such, there has been a connection between Swiatek and Paolini even though they have only played each other twice (Swiatek won each of the first two meetings — six years ago in Prague and then at the 2022 US Open). The 22-year-old was quick to congratulate Paolini — both via social media and in person — after the Italian captured the biggest title of her career earlier this season at the WTA Premier 1000 event in Dubai.

“Gratulacje (congratulations) Jasmine! What a week,” Swiatek wrote on Twitter in a combination of English and Polish.

“Of course when I see her I say congratulations for the titles she [has won],” Paolini said of Swiatek during her post-match press conference following Thursday’s semi-final victory over Mirra Andreeva. “The same, she does. She congratulated me after Dubai. She wished me good luck after matches when we met in the locker room.”

I try to speak in Polish, but it’s not easy. I’m a little bit shy because I’m not feeling really confident in it.
Jasmine Paolini

Paolini’s mother spoke Polish with her while she was growing. Although the 28-year-old is far from fluent in the language, she knows it well enough to speak some in conversation.

“I try to speak in Polish, but it’s not easy,” the world No 15 admitted. “I’m a little bit shy because I’m not feeling really confident in it…. So, yeah, I try to speak Polish, but it’s not easy for me. But [Iga and I] have (a) relationship, yeah.”

Any friendship that exists will be put aside for at least an hour on Saturday afternoon. Paolini can only hope it’s for maybe even two hours, but so far this fortnight Swiatek — aside from a dramatic second-round match against Naomi Osaka — has been crushing opponents in swift fashion. Paolini knows it will be a tough test, but one she hopes to enjoy.

“Iga is unbelievable player — so young, but so many achievements and Grand Slams. Here she won three times.

“She’s doing well week by week, and that’s not easy. So I have huge respect for her, but my goal is to step on court Saturday and try to enjoy the match — to enjoy that moment and to try to play a good match and to make a good performance on court.”