It was hard to smile today," Paolini reflects on her victory against Sevastova

Jasmine Paolini had a scare this Monday in her opening match at Wimbledon. Last year's finalist faced Anastasija Sevastova in the first round, who was making her return to the tour.

The Italian won in three sets but had lost the first set 6-2 and committed 17 unforced errors. However, she managed to bounce back and win the match.

After the match, she spoke about her performance: "I was trying; I kept telling myself that I had to smile no matter what. If things go wrong, you have to relax a little—it's just a bad day.

At that moment, that’s what I was thinking: even if it was a bad day, I was privileged to be here. The worst that can happen is losing a tennis match, so you have to try to smile, to relax.

In a way, I feel less nervous when I do that, but today, it was hard to smile.