Jasmine Paolini's new coach Danilo Pizzorno reveals he specifically focused on improving the parts of the game that could help the Italian beat the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova in 2026.
After working with Renzo Furlan for a decade, Paolini split with her long-time coach in March. The world No. 8 then brought in Rafael Nadal's ex-coach Marc Lopez as a replacement, but they worked only until July.
Meanwhile, Pizzorno worked with world No. 17 Liudmila Samsonova for four years before the two called time on their partnership in late 2025.
Paolini used the opportunity to hire the Italian coach, who appears to have a clear strategy about what the 29-year-old should look to fix in her game.
Pizzorno: We've focused on Paolini's serve, return and rhythm variations
In these weeks of work, weve focused on her serve, return, and rhythm variations, a tool that could be very useful against players with very heavy balls like Sabalenka and Anisimova. It will be crucial to always keep her focused on motivation and improvement," the Italian coach told Ubitennis.
Paolini has played against Sabalenka eight times and has two wins. However, it should be noted that the Italian's two wins came at the 2017 ITF Ilkley and 2022 Indian Wells. Since then, the Belarusian world No. 1 has won their last five meetings.
Against Anisimova, the 2024 Wimbledon finalist has a 0-2 record, having lost to the American world No. 4 in their 2021 Parma and 2025 Beijing clashes.
When creating a team for the 2026 season, Paolini pulled off a very interesting and also hired her doubles partner Sara Errani.
Sara handles the strategy, I focus on technique. We are in perfect synergy and will each try to give our best for the benefit of the player," coach Pizzorno clarified.
It remains to be seen if Pizzorno and Errani can guide Paolini to a maiden Grand Slam win in 2026.
