MIAMI – Spain’s Paula Badosa does not give up. She survives the high level of competition while living with the pain of her chronic injury. And to cope with that demanding reality — not only physical but also mental — she turns to her psychologist multiple times a day.
“I do many different therapies, but above all I speak with my psychologist daily: in the morning, in the middle of the day, at night. In the end, is my key person,” the current world No. 100, a former No. 2, told CLAY.
“This sport is already very mental, and having to accept moments when my body is not as agile and does not respond as well is difficult. This is what I am suffering the most. Tennis is very emotional,” said the 2021 Indian Wells champion.
At the Miami Open she lost in the second round to 18-year-old North American Iva Jovic, one of the great prospects in US and world tennis. Badosa, clearly affected by pain and wearing a bandage on her left thigh, committed ten double faults and won just 14% of points behind her second serve.
“Sometimes I also feel that I have to change my style of play, and that’s when I maybe lose myself a little. But I am trying to work on it, I am trying to accept that this is what it is right now. Hopefully it will improve and my body will respond better, but for the moment all that is left is to fight and stay positive,” she told CLAY.
In 2023, while playing the WTA 1000 in Rome, a vertebra in her back (L-4) broke. The Spaniard suffered a stress fracture.
That was the beginning of the nightmare that has accompanied her for almost three years. The hardest part for the 28-year-old Spaniard is that there is no definitive way back: the injury is chronic.
At times that ordeal gives her some relief and allows her to display her best level, as happened in Washington, the city where she won her most recent title in 2024; or at the 2025 Australian Open, where she reached the semi-finals.
“Playing three or four more years would be incredible,” she admitted at the start of 2024, after a pilgrimage through medical consultations across the world, all leading to the same conclusion: competing at the highest level in those conditions is immensely difficult.
“I have always had a very fighting personality, very much a warrior, and this perhaps makes me bring out that grit even more. In the end, all I can do is keep fighting and keep that passion for this sport,” she said.
“I work a lot on the mental side, I really like expressing how I feel, and I think that helps me a lot,” Badosa concluded.
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