Like a good Chianti, it appears female Italian tennis players only get better with age.
Flavia Panneta won the 2015 US Open aged 33 and Francesca Schivone was 30 when she won here in 2010 – they are the two oldest first-time Grand Slam champions in history.
And now Jasmine Paolini, from the Tuscan town of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, faces Iga Swiatek in her first Grand Slam final at the age of 28, after a career spent in relative obscurity before a surge in form over the last 12 months.
So what took her so long? Paolini is a down-to-earth character and it has taken a while for her self-belief to catch up to her ability.
‘I was watching other Italians make it to finals and win Grand Slams, but imagining that could be me was tough,’ said Paolini, who was outside the top 50 this time last year but will rise to at least world No7 after her run here.
Jasmine Paolini is relishing the chance to play in her first Grand Slam final at the age of 28
Taking on world No 1 Swiatek will be a difficult task but Paolini will hope she can prevail
Paolini has demonstrated that she is a superb athlete and is also extremely consistent
‘I was dreaming to become a professional but I never dreamed to be No1, Grand Slam champion. I never dreamed so big.
‘It was surprising to see interviews from Nole (Djokovic) when he was a kid saying he wanted to be world No1 and win Wimbledon. It’s unbelievable you can dream that as a child.
‘But I started to dream – step by step.’
Paolini was born in Italy to a Ghanaian father and a Polish mother. So, with Swiatek, Poland can claim to have one-and-a-half players in this final. Poland Garros indeed.
Can Paolini spring an upset? She is a superb athlete and extremely consistent – a classic clay-courter – but that is unlikely to cut the mustard against Swiatek. It feels like it will take a lights-out performance of raw power to beat Swiatek here and that is not the 5ft 4in Paolini’s game.
But even Swiatek can have a bad day and, small as she may be, this fortnight has shown it is time for Paolini to start dreaming bigger.