Paula Badosa wasn’t impressed at all with a Spanish publication calling her out over potentially soon exiting the top-100 as the Spanish tennis star thought it was “sad” and bluntly highlighted that she hasn’t gotten a lot of action over the last 10 months due to injury issues.
On Tuesday, Badosa kicked off her clay season at a WTA 500 event in Charleston, where she was a semifinalist in 2021. Unfortunately for Badosa, it was a very short Charleston campaign for her this year after Danielle Collins – who won the Miami Open last week – handed her a 6-1 6-4 loss in the Charleston first round.
By losing to Collins, Badosa fell to a 5-7 record in 2024 and she is set for a slight drop in the rankings as she will likely slide down from No. 82 to around the 90th spot when the WTA rankings list gets updated on Monday.
However, it should be noted that Badosa was ranked at No. 29 last May before a back injury limited to just one tournament in the second half of 2023. Badosa may have appeared in seven tournaments this year but she is still dealing with back issues.
After sharing their Badosa article on X, Spanish publication Deportes Cuatro wrote: “Paula Badosa does not raise her head: she falls decisively in Charleston and flirts with leaving the ‘top100.'”
Safe to say that Badosa wasn’t impressed with the headline at all as she bluntly hit back. In her message, Badosa also told the Spanish publication to “put a photo of me on the cover,” which indicates that a photo of someone else was used for the headline.
“It seems too much to me to still be in the top 100 without competing for 10 months. And finally, please put a photo of me on the cover…” Badosa said.
Badosa also used the word “lamentable,” which when translated from Spanish can be interpreted as “sad” and “disappointing.”
Demasiado me parece aun estar en el top100 sin competir durante 10 meses. Y por ultimo por favor pon una foto mia en la portada… Lamentable
— Paula Badosa (@paulabadosa) April 3, 2024
It has been a struggle for Badosa health-wise in 2024
Badosa started her 2024 season in time and her Australia comeback actually went pretty well as she didn’t experience any issues there.
But then, the former world No. 2 was forced to retire from her Hua Hin round-of-16 match in late January. After retiring injured in Dubai as well, the Badosa also wasn’t able to compete in Indian Wells.
After a couple of challenging weeks, Badosa returned to action at the Miami Open, where she defeated Simona Halep 1-6 6-4 6-3 in the first round to win her first match since mid-February. By beating Halep, the 26-year-old Spaniard set up a meeting against her best friend Aryna Sabalenka, who had just experienced a major tragedy after her ex-boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov committed suicide at 42 in Miami.
For both, Badosa and Sabalenka it was a tough match to play considering the circumstances as the Spaniard also felt for the Belarusian and what she was going through. In the end, it was Sabalenka who claimed a 6-4 6-3 win in their Miami second-round match.
After the Sabalenka loss, Badosa said just playing in Miami was already “a win” for her.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it ‘special’ because it wasn’t very comfortable to play my best friend in this situation,” Badosa said.
“After all, I want to talk about me, honestly. Three weeks ago I didn’t know I could be able to play here. I was in my country struggling, didn’t know what to do with my back with a lot of pain.
“Coming back here and being able to play, it’s already a win for me.”
Badosa hopes the clay surface will be better for her back
Following her Miami exit, Badosa also addressed her next plans and admitted that she was hoping to play as much as possible during the clay season. After starting her clay season in Charleston, Badosa would also like to be able to play Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome and the French Open.
“Honestly, play as much as possible. For my injury, I think clay will help me. I will feel a little bit better because it’s not that tough for my injury. I will play as much as I can,” Badosa said.
“I’m going to play Charleston, if I can. Stuttgart. Hometown Madrid. All the tournaments possible. If I can get a lot of matches like today, against the best ones, to get that rhythm, it would be great.”
Around this time last year, Badosa was on the rise as she made the quarterfinals in Rome, Charleston and Stuttgart. But then, a very unfortunate back injury happened and it has been a big struggle for Badosa since then.
It remains to be seen how Badosa’s body will hold up in the upcoming weeks and how much she can during the clay season.
