Jasmine Paolini gives no peace of mind after defeat

Jasmine Paolini spoke at a press conference after her surprise defeat to Kamilla Rakhimova in the second round at Wimbledon. “It’s hard to accept – she admitted -, I’m still thinking about that second set. She played well but I should have done something more. I should have kept my concentration high and not lost focus so often”.

“I had so many opportunities, made stupid mistakes and missed some answers in the important moments and that gave her confidence– added the world number 5 -. In the second set my focus came and went as she played better and better. It was a combination of things, some mistakes can happen but it doesn”t fit to lose focus in those moments.

“If I had put my head ahead in the match maybe I could have found some peace of mind and turned things around– explained the Blue -. On this surface everything can turn in a moment and it is crucial to always be mentally solid. In the third set she was playing deep, making few mistakes I was down a break and all the pressure was on me”.

“It has been an intense month, maybe in hindsight I could have skipped the tournament after Roland Garros, Berlin, as I had done last year, and taken advantage of it to rest a bit – said the Tuscan -. But there is no point in talking about it now, I hoped I could manage the match better today and stay focused until the end. I felt better than the first round but without the right focus you cannot compete at the highest level. If I want to stay at this level I must always keep my focus and not do like today”.

“On the one hand, thoughts of last year were going there, not so much because of the results but because of the level of tennis I had expressed. This year I was looking for those same feelings but I struggled, and it did not go as I hoped. Now I have to reset, take a few days off after the doubles and try to recharge my batteries for second half of the season” concluded Paolini.