In November 2019, Paula Badosa told this newspaper:
“If you look at you from the outside, people think you are very lucky to do what you do.” But if you do not meet the expectations that have marked you and that you also mark yourself, then you sink (…) In my case depression came. I lost the desire to play tennis.
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In those days, Badosa was the 95th in the world. He was fighting to stabilize in the Top 100 and secure a place in the big pictures of the Grand Slam. He barely covered the expenses of travel and his team of assistants.
From then to now, there is an abyss.
It doesn’t overwhelm me to be a favorite today; Djokovic and Serena Williams tell me: ‘it’s a privilege’ “
In this 2021, Paula Badosa has been installed in the Top 15 of the WTA (she is the 13th).
He has played the Roland Garros quarter-finals, defeated four of the five Top 5 and claimed the Belgrade and Indian Wells titles, the latter just over a week ago.
No Spanish tennis player had ever won the title in California.
Yesterday, the WTA officially announced that Badosa will play the WTA Finals, the tournament that brings together the eight best rackets of the year and that will be played in Mexican Guadalajara from November 10 to 17 (along with Badosa, Garbiñe Muguruza will also be there; years that Spanish tennis did not place two women in the WTA Finals, since the era of Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Conchita Martínez).
Paula Badosa attends The vanguard by phone, from his home in Madrid.
You are going to be one of the eight rackets of the year. Is there much difference between being a Top 100 and being in the Top 10?
Bufff, being in the WTA Finals … It’s a blast. He had always seen them on television. Thinking I’ll be there gives me goose bumps.
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What is the difference?
It seems like another sport. In April it was 70 and now I’m in the Top 15. Now I play in big stadiums and center courts, people know me and millions of people watch my games. Before, I played in small tournaments and cornered courts, without an audience and without being listened to.
And this does not create pressure?
The old thing was pressure! It is true that now I am more exposed and will be required to reach the semifinals or win titles. But I enjoy this pressure because I am where I want to be. Djokovic and Serena Williams told me that this situation “is a privilege.” Certainly, when you are the 100th, less is expected of you. But that situation is overwhelming because it is not where you want to be.
Paula Badosa celebrates her victory over Victoria Azarenka in Indian Wells
And also, being the 100th is expensive (in this 2021, Badosa has pocketed two million euros in prizes in tournaments) …
Tennis is a very expensive sport. And that’s why, when you’re 70th, you’re worried and you earn money, but very little. The rewards start to be great if you are one of the best in the world, and that is only twenty or thirty.
And the expectations that you are generating, with a Rafael Nadal in doubt and a Carlos Alcaraz still in training, don’t they torment you?
That doesn’t weigh me down too much. Somehow, I’m used to it. I already generated expectations as a young man, but then I was not prepared either mentally or physically. Now it won’t happen to me. Obviously I will lose games and go through bad times, but I will know how to handle it.
(In 2015, Badosa won the junior Roland Garros, and the expectations that that victory generated confused her. They said it was the Spanish Sharápova. Badosa got stuck in the ranking, in a process of anxieties and depressions that made him think about leaving tennis).
It doesn’t overwhelm me to be a favorite today; Djokovic and Serena Williams tell me: ‘It’s a privilege’ “
What went wrong then, from 2015 to 2019?
I don’t like to remember those times, they bring me emotions and it hurts me. What I want people to see is that you can get out of such a process and succeed. I like to bring out the positive things, and from what I draw that has led me to be the person I am today, a motivated person who turns his back on discomfort. I have wanted to listen and go out and learn from that.
Xavi Budó (his coach during 2019) helped him with that.
I don’t like changes. In fact, I hate them and they give me a hard time. But if I make a decision, I’m not going to go back. each of my coaches has given me something. Xavi (Budó) rescued me at a very hard time and put me in the Top 100. Then, Javi …
(He refers to Javier Martí: he was his coach from September 2020 to October 2021).
With Javi I took another step. I went from being the Top 100 to being among the best in the world. He re-educated me physically and mentally, he knows a lot about tennis and I think that a large part of what I have I owe to him. And Jorge García gives me stability. Tennis is an individual sport, but you need a good team behind you, and I also have it with David Antona (physical trainer) and Dani de la Serna (nutritionist).
Winning Barty in April marked a turning point. I thought: ‘If I beat number 1, I can beat anyone’ “
In recent months, his physique has been transformed. It has been streamlined, it is more resistant.
And there is still a lot … But it is true that now I recover faster, I do not get injured and I move better on the track. Antona and De la Serna have reset me from scratch.
Didn’t the physicist work before?
Sure I do, but now I do it every day. Two hours a day, whatever happens: while you are on the couch, there are a hundred tennis players who are training. I work on strength, cardio, and endurance and have put intolerances out of my diet.
Have you learned from all of this?
I have always liked to know everything. I ask a lot and I understand that it is necessary. Because I work with my body and because I enjoy it. I read books, I’m a perfectionist and obsessive, but I also try to control that.
How important is the physique in today’s tennis?
Of course, before tennis was not so physical. And I didn’t prioritize it either. And I was in a mistake, because physically I can get a lot of potential out of my game. Although my tennis has always been there, huh?
Two years ago, Xavi Budó told us that he saw you as a potential Top 10. Did you believe it?
Sometimes I saw it and sometimes I did not, and then I saw myself very far away. Of course, I did not expect to experience such a big change in such a short time. But I have always been a dreamer.
Paula Badosa kisses the Indian Wells trophy
Reviewing the year, those quarter-finals appear at Roland Garros, in June. She fell to Zidansek in three sets, but it seemed a sensational tennis player was emerging at last.
I think I was not ready for something so big yet, and I think these painful defeats have helped me. If I had won that game, I might not have won Indian Wells now.
Speaking of Indian Wells, you knew how to manage the weight of that final and against Azarenka, a tennis player with tables.
It was a great game, right? And between the 21st and the 27th in the world …
What does it mean?
The fact that there is no solid No. 1 on the women’s circuit is criticized. But the level of tennis has risen dramatically. Today you see a Top 30 against the Top 15 and the game is great. I myself can play against number 1 or number 2 and not know what will happen, unlike what happens with the Big Three (Djokovic, Nadal and Federer). A game against Jabeur or Sakkari is exciting, and engaging.
At what time of year did you see that you could really be a Top 10? Maybe by beating Barty (in April, in the Charleston quarterfinals)?
That marked a turning point. He needed victories for confidence to come. I thought, ‘If I beat number 1, I can beat anyone.’
