Jasmine Paolini selected as a torchbearer for 2026 Winter Olympics

Jasmine Paolini is flying Il tricolore proudly on the WTA tour. But ahead of the 2026 Olympics in her home country, the Italian will be carrying something even more special to display her national pride: the Olympic flame.

Paolini was "proud" to reveal this week that courtesy of her and the Olympics' joint sponsor of Coca-Cola, she was selected as a torchbearer for next year's Winter Games, the fourth Olympics on Italian soil in history.

The Milano-Cortina 2026 torch relay will begin on Dec. 6 in Rome after the Olympic flame is lit in Olympia, Greece on Nov. 26 and handed off on Dec. 4 in Athens.

The two-time Grand Slam finalist and 10,000 other torchbearers will carry the flame over 12,000 kilometers across Italy for more than two months, hitting 110 provinces and 60 city celebrations. It will arrive in co-host city Cortina d'Ampezzo on Jan. 26, before being used to light the Olympic Cauldron in Milan's San Siro football stadium as part of the opening ceremony on Feb. 6.

Paolini's participation in the relay should come as no surprise. Since beginning her surprise ascent to the top of women's tennis over the last three years, she has thrived when wearing her national colors. A gold medalist in women's doubles at last summer's Paris Olympics with Sara Errani in a first for Italy, she has also led the country to back-to-back Billie Jean King Cup titles.

This fall in Shenzhen, she secured Italy's title defense with a heroic effort, going undefeated, winning two matches from big deficits, and clinching a 2-0 defeat of the United States with a win over Jessica Pegula. She battled back to win from a set and a break down against Wang Xinyu in Italy's quarterfinal win against China, before doing the same against Elina Svitolina in the semifinals against Ukraine. In the deciding doubles match in that tie, she and Errani beat Lyudmyla Kichenok and Marta Kostyuk to steer Italy into the final.

"Playing for the national team, it's something that I was watching, I was dreaming of doing," Paolini said after Italy's sixth all-time BJK Cup title, saying she hoped to inspire the next generation of Italian girls on the tennis court.

"Every time it's [an] honor, of course, to represent Italy."