The athlete regretted his withdrawal from the engagement in the Mexican city on the microphones after the game, in which for a scant 30 minutes he tried to hide his discomfort, which, without going into more details, he defined as follows: “I feel very sorry not being able to continue, but I have been sick for days. I have tried to recover in every way and it has not been possible. I am very sorry to leave because I was looking forward to competing here in Guadalajara, where I have beautiful memories” .
This new setback has been a stone in Badosa’s shoe that was becoming more and more pointed and uncomfortable. This has resulted in Azarenka completing a 4-0 run in the first set comfortably. During the outcome of the set, the Catalan tennis player tried to prove her worth by balancing the scales, but with the result against her and with a clear physical disadvantage she was only able to win two games.
Thus, the Belarusian won 6-2 in the first set and certified the victory after Badosa approached her before the start of the second set to tell her that she was not feeling well and was leaving the competition. Azarenka will compete in the next phase of the tournament, the round of 16, against the American Madison Keys, while Paula Badosa joins the list of casualties for the day and confirms her farewell to a 2022 marked by obstacles and adversities.
An unfavorable 2022 for Paula Badosa
It is not the first time this year that the Catalan tennis player has withdrawn due to conditions external to her game. The tennis player withdrew in the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters in March due to physical discomfort she was carrying over from a previous match. She could only play five games against Jessica Pegula, when she beat the Catalan in the first set by 4-1. Another unfortunate moment was the injury that left her out of Roland Garros as well. Last May, the tennis player said goodbye to the Grand Slam after withdrawing due to an injury to her right leg during the match against the Russian Veronika Kudermetova. The player from Begur had lost the first set by 6-3 and was already losing the second by 2-1.
“I have to learn from the experiences of this year, difficult, tough, which hopefully will be a before and after for my career. I need to manage the pressure. I have room for improvement and I hope to overcome myself to reach be number one.” In this way Badosa was honest, that this year she has suffered a series of stumbles that have kept her from being considered, now, one of the best tennis players in the world.
Negligence with the Catalan language
The ups and downs of the tennis player are not only sporting, as it was also news for non-sporting reasons last August, following the controversy that arose from the interview the athlete gave to Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, in which he stated that Catalan is not a language, although he apologized and assured that those statements were forced by the interviewer. “He told me that [el català] it didn’t count as a language, and I had to express it that way. I’m very sorry that the news was misinterpreted, because it’s something that affects me and it’s wrong,” said Badosa. Next year she hopes to shine again on the slopes.
