It’s a stroke of luck!
A veteran Italian photographer snapped a whimsical, one-in-a-million viral photo of tennis pro Jasmine Paolini’s face peeking through a design on her racket at the precise moment she took a swing on the US Open — a picture he called “not possible to breed.”
The superbly timed shot — which makes the Grand Slam doubles champ appear like a sporty jack-o-lantern with a triangle-shaped mouth — was captured by Ray Guibilo on Sunday during his thirty first trip to the tournament, he told The Post Thursday.
“It just happened, it’s one in every of those belongings you cannot explain. It’s not possible to breed,” Guibilo said of the photo, which had raked in greater than 78,000 likes on Instagram as of Wednesday.
“I believe it’s really funny,” the seasoned shutterbug said of going viral.
“The greatness of the photo is that it makes you laugh, even Paolini laughed. She thanked me after the match yesterday,” said Guibilo, a staff photographer at Il Tennis Italiano, who has covered the game for 37 years and has taken hundreds of photos.
Paolini, 29, had been competing against Destanee Aiava, of Australia, within the opening round of the tournament Sunday when she took a swing at the precise right moment and angle.
“The toughest picture to capture… nevertheless it’s the simplest Halloween costume!” Paolini later quipped within the photo’s comment section.
She later hailed it as “perhaps the image of the 12 months.”
Paolini was eventually victorious against Aiava — 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) — Sunday. She also beat American Iva Jovic in straight sets Wednesday 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the third round of the ladies’s singles.
