Paula Badosa’s Return to Tennis: Overcoming Injury, Defending Her Relationship, and High Expectations

Paula Badosa is one of the names of the finals of the Billie Jean King Cup that will be held starting this Tuesday in Seville. The Spanish player will pick up the racket again after a prolonged absence due to an injury to one of her vertebrae. Badosa has spoken to El País about how she got to this moment, her recovery from her injury and, of course, her relationship with fellow tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas.

On this last topic, he admitted, bringing out his most personal side, that “it has hurt me a lot” that they criticized this relationship: “With the whole issue of the injury, in reality, I have been able to dedicate myself quite a bit to helping him. We both love tennis and He is also a super hard-working person, we are very similar in the goals we set for ourselves. We talk a lot about tennis and we help each other a lot. As you can see, I have gone to the court to support him or to the gym to accompany him, always respecting the times and his people, his team; he has also supported me a lot with the injury, so when we read those things it impacts us. Sometimes, people are not able to understand how that can affect you, or affect a relationship I can understand that we are public figures and that we are exposed, but in the end we are two 25-year-old ‘children’ and all this is delicate, because it is an innocent relationship; we have met and it has arisen, and that people go for Saying things there is quite serious, because they are destroying the career of someone who has spent his entire life dedicating himself to what he does. “I don’t think that giving an opinion this way is very humane.”

Badosa has spoken at length about this last year and how injuries have hindered his growth: “It has been a long and difficult process, especially mentally because I always had the hope of being able to return and I was doing tests, and it was very difficult for me to accept that I had to stop. There came a time when I said to myself: ‘Well, you have to stay still and forget about the competition this year.’ Finally I made the decision in the United States. [antes del US Open]. Now the pain is there, but the tests have gone well and that is the most important thing. “It has been a very hard year, perhaps the hardest of my career. I have had other very difficult ones, but in this one I have not had the option to do anything because you cannot control this injury, and that has cost me. I have learned to have a lot of patience and accept the things that I cannot control, and at the same time I have realized that even though I have been playing tennis since I was seven years old and it is my passion, there are things beyond this. sport”.

Annoyed with the press

The Catalan tennis player referred to her relationship with the media and did not hesitate to affirm that “I am more careful, but at the same time I am very natural, and if I have to say as I am telling you now that I am hurt, I do it.” “I’m not going to deny it, I’m a little hurt because I think it’s judged very easily. It’s very easy to see myself from the outside, in a game, and say: ‘She’s already retired, or she’s dedicated to doing this or that…’, when “They don’t know the daily effort you’re making. I’ve been unemployed, but I’ve been working every day; the mental part, watching games, recovery… Everything that can’t be seen.”

In addition, she indicated that she tries “not to say what people expect, but to be honest; if that is going to cause some bad headline to appear, then that’s it; it will be a few regular days and I will learn from it, that’s it. I understand that this “It’s a business and people may be more interested in the latest bag I carry when I’m walking through Madrid than in how my recovery is going. In the end, that sells more, so I can understand it.”

A memory for Garbiñe Muguruza

Paula Badosa also spoke about the situation of her compatriot Garbiñe Muguruza, who decided to stop competing and, at the moment, has no scheduled date for her return. “It makes me very sad because for me she has been a role model; I loved how she played and I wanted to be like her. I would really like her to be here now, with us, because I think we could do anything with a team like that, but the things are as they are. I see her very happy and enjoying herself, something that did not happen when she played; in the end, she is a player who has achieved absolutely everything, the best Spanish along with Arantxa and Conchita, so she has earned the right to do what I want. If they understand it well, and if not, also.”

Finally, Badosa advanced her expectations for next year: “I don’t know how this injury is going to respond, but I expect a lot from myself because I am very demanding. I only think about returning to the level I was at before getting injured and the players who “I have the top ten in mind all the time; I want to play against them. I want to feel like I’m there because I’ve always wanted to be the best. My mentality has always been like that.”

2023-11-07 16:40:00
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