Second album syndrome, sophomore slump, or second-season blues; whatever you want to call it, it’s something that affects many sports stars: the difficulty in following up a breakthrough year.
Jasmine Paolini: “This year, it's a new story”
After getting her ticket for the third round of the 2025 Australian Open, Jasmine Paolini has answered our questions.

So many players shine bright for a year and then hardly show their faces again. Dutchman Martin Verkerk reached the Roland-Garros final in 2003 and then barely played again. Gaston Gaudio won the title there in 2004 and rarely figured after. Many others have had a big run at a slam but never did anything of note on the world stage again.
For Jasmine Paolini, repeating 2024 is going to be a near-impossible feat. The Italian, who had won just four singles matches in 16 Grand Slams until 12 months ago, won the biggest title of her career, in Dubai, reached the final at Roland-Garros, made the final at Wimbledon and went on to win the doubles gold medal at the Olympics, in partnership with Sara Errani.
The transformation was little short of miraculous. Previously lacking belief that she belonged at the very top level, Paolini was suddenly dancing around the court, high on confidence, her infectious smile lighting up Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and Roland-Garros again, when the Olympics came to town. She reached the WTA Finals - in singles and doubles - and ended the year ranked No 4, having begun it as the No 29.
Now comes the hard part, backing it up. Not that she’s looking at it that way.
“You know, last year, it's over,” Paolini told Roland-Garros.com at Melbourne Park on Thursday. “This year, it's a new story. I try to have the expectations low, try to play my tennis and try to improve a little bit some aspects of my game, and let's see what 2025 brings, OK.”
Comparing last year to this, she says, “doesn’t make sense.” Defending so many points, titles and finals is pressure enough, without trying to make the entire year be as good, if not better, than last.
It took Paolini several years on Tour to really begin to believe. For so long, she thought that she was a good player, but not a top player, not someone who could go deep in a Slam.
That began to change when she arrived in Australia last year. Having lost in the first round on all four of her previous visits, a win over Diana Shnaider kick-started a run to the fourth round, where she eventually lost to Anna Kalinskaya. Lifted by her performances, it was the catalyst for the best season of her career.
“It was so important,” she said. “I had never won a match in Australian Open before last year. So I was really happy after the first round, and I won two rounds in a Slam for the first time, so it gave me so much confidence, I think, for the rest of the year. I have really great memories from here.”
In the days before the Australian Open, Paolini attended the Asics Tennis Summit, where she summed up her past 12 months. “It was an amazing season last year,” she said. “I didn't expect that. I really enjoyed to be on court to play important matches with big opponents in the best courts in the world.”
Her plan to reduce expectations is probably wise. Matching last year might be impossible, and falling short, even if she makes semi-finals at the Slams instead of finals, could easily be considered a disappointment. Her ranking is heavily reliant on her runs in Paris and Wimbledon and it’s entirely possible she could fall out of the top 10 even if she performs well, if not brilliantly. But the Italian is now comfortable in her own skin on the Tour and seems relaxed about the whole thing.
Nevertheless, she says she can’t wait to return to Roland-Garros and Wimbledon this summer, hoping to go one better, especially at Wimbledon where she beat Donna Vekic in a final-set decider to reach the final.
“That was stressful, but the emotion that I was feeling just right after the last point was amazing,” she said. “I was feeling so good, so happy and more relaxed as well. It was probably one of the best memories of the year. I'm lucky that I also have others, like the gold medal, that was also unbelievable.”
For now, though, her attention is on going further in Melbourne, but there is no question she has one eye on the future, too. “Of course, it's going to be really exciting to go back there, to (Roland-Garros and Wimbledon) but now we have to think about the Australian Open,” she said.
