Updated:08/06/2021 01:12h
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Also Paula Badosa
opens a quarter-finals of Roland Garros, and Grand Slam, and also admits that mental work has been fundamental in this growth that Paris now discovers as Serbia did before (first WTA title), and before Madrid (semifinals) and before Charleston (semi-finals). It is a step further than he took here last year, and closer to the Badosa he always dreamed of being. Today, against Tamara Zidansek (12.00 hours, Eurosport), has another opportunity to prove that he can handle everything, something that his coach, Javier Martí, has known for a long time and tries to help his pupil understand it. «Tennis had been around for a long time, but we needed create an environment in which she felt comfortable, with good professionals, but also good people that I could trust. The process was personal, without looking so much at the result, but at what she was. The eighth in Paris last year we knew it wasn’t real. You had to create a complete picture: change mentally, physically, even your diet, and also tennis: be more aggressive, the second serve, vary more … it has been a general change, “explains Martí.
Because, he admits, when Badosa called him to train together, in September 2020, he was at a very low point. “When I saw her train it was crazy, she had a tremendous ball hit, but mentally she was not well. I was very focused on ‘if I win I’m very good, if I lose I’m not good for this’. He did not enjoy the process. If you depend totally on the results it is very difficult to evolve ». His experience as a player has served Badosa a lot, since he was compared in his early years with Nadal, and she, with Sharapova. And the weight of responsibility took its toll on both, although Martí also suffered an elbow injury. «I saw people with whom I played get very high and I was not there. It was hard and I had a hard time psychologically, but it helped me understand many things that now serve Paula. I know what it is like for people to expect great things from you. There is a lot of connection between us and he knows that he can talk to me about any subject and I will understand him, and he will always have my humble opinion and experience.
Without looking at the ranking
At 23 years old, the path is settled between professionalism and a certain freedom of movement, so that he trains hard, but also disconnects. As a result, for the moment, these quarterfinals, which are taken as one more match, Simeone style, without looking so much at the ranking as what Badosa can do, and it is a lot. “In the women’s circuit the number 90 can beat you to a top 10. And Paula has understood that it does not matter where the rival is in the classification, but what she can do against that opponent”, indicates the coach, whose role is also adapting to the needs of your ward. «Now the most important work is to understand that Until recently, it was not a favorite and now it plays that role, which has completely changed. The results, I don’t know if I expected them to be so good, but we did know that they could come. He has a chance to beat anyone, but he knows that, at this level, he can also lose to anyone. It will be a tough match. But Paula is ambitious and that is very good ”, ditch.
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