'I have my own weapons' - how 5ft 4in Paolini uses height to her advantage

Italian world number four Jasmine Paolini reached the French Open and Wimbledon finals before winning Olympics doubles gold in a breakout 2024

I've heard that one of the most popular things which comes up next to my name in internet searches is 'height'.

That's because I'm 5ft 4in. It's pretty unique because most of the players on the WTA Tour at the moment are a lot taller.

I heard that the average height of the players currently in the top 10 is about 5ft 10in. I'm also told that I am the smallest player in the top 20.

But it's not something I worry about - I just try to play my tennis and concentrate on my game.

Being smaller means I have different weapons to a taller player. We work with what we have, you know!

I move pretty well on court and people generally say that is my biggest strength.

Ever since I was a child I have been quick and nimble.

I remember being at the tennis club when I was young and doing some training sessions where we did sprinting drills. I was one of the fastest then.

Jasmine Paolini is the shortest player in the top 10 and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is the tallest at 6ft - but Paolini leads 3-2 in their head-to-head

I can also hit strong groundstrokes - with both my forehand and backhand. I might be short but I can hit the ball strong.

When I was young it used to annoy my coach that I was missing too many shots from the baseline because I enjoyed hitting the ball so hard.

Sometimes my practice is still like that – I love to hit the ball hard even if I know it is going out!

The other thing I always try to do more than my opponents is to make sure I'm there every point.

I place emphasis on fighting for every ball and also to enjoy the matches.

I try to remember that it is just a game, you can win or you can lose, but you have to give 100% every time. Otherwise there is no point being there.

'Don't let people stop you achieving your dreams'

Earlier in my career I also used to lack a bit of self-belief against bigger players.

Sometimes when I played a taller player who had a strong serve, I wished I could do the same.

But then I started to realise it was silly to think like that and not useful.

If I was taller would I have had the same career and achieving what I'm achieving now? I don't know. I would be a different person and a different player.

Now I'm relaxed about being smaller, I don't care.

When I was a child I was a similar height to the other girls - then I stopped growing!

Paolini won the biggest singles title of her career when she won the WTA 1000 event in Dubai last February

I'm sure other people might have thought I was too small to become one of the top tennis players in the world - but nobody said it directly to me.

They can think what they want.

Everybody has to believe in themselves, no matter what others say or think.

Don't let people stop you.

If you believe in your dream then you can reach it. It's better not to care about the people and what they are saying.

I think it's bad that people say 'this girl or this guy can't do that' because of something which they think is a negative. It's not nice.

You never know what you can achieve in life.

Jasmine Paolini was speaking to BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko at Melbourne Park.