Paolini and the mental aspect: "I was losing the match before I even played it".

Jasmine Paolini won't be playing her first Grand Slam semi-final by chance this Thursday at Roland-Garros (against Mirra Andreeva). It's the culmination of a long process for the 28-year-old. The Italian explained in a press conference.

A process of transforming her mental approach to tennis and her matches, which has enabled her to make lightning progress since last season. She really took on a new dimension this year, winning her first WTA 1000 on the Dubai courts in February.

Jasmine Paolini: "I think I started playing better, with more consistency, last year, let's say in the middle of July. Match after match, I felt more convinced that I could play at a higher level. But it was a process. It's not as if I turned something on.

Now, as I've said several times, I go onto the court telling myself that I've got a chance of winning the match. Whereas before, sometimes, for example when I was playing against the best players, I'd say to myself something like 'okay, I need a miracle to win this match'. So I was already losing the match before I even played it."