NEW YORK – The phrase of tennis legend Rod Laver explains what Paula Badosa experienced at midday on Tuesday at the US Open.
“The time your game is most vulnerable is when you’re ahead.’
The statistic is telling in a match the Spaniard lost 2-6, 5-7 to Emma Navarro in the quarter-finals of the last Grand Slam of the year, and what was seen in the second set proved the Australian absolutely right.
From the moment Badosa was 5-1, 15-0 on the North American’s serve in the second set, she was in a hole she couldn’t get out of: 24 of the 28 points went Navarro’s way. The first of the two times Badosa went to serve for the match, she lost the game in zero and the 12 unforced errors and two double faults further aggravated the numbers.
“I can’t play, I can’t play,” she told coach Pol Toledo, who was watching his player’s decline as the Spaniard came so close to forcing a third set. Badosa misplaced her forehand and could not deal with her legs.
Emma Navarro’s moment in the sun! ☀️
She comes from 5-1 down in the second set to defeat Badosa and reach her maiden Grand Slam semifinal! pic.twitter.com/YWfnW0ya2E
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2024
The detail of such a debacle was delivered a few minutes later in the press room by Badosa, sad and frustrated, but without losing composure.
“In the second set there was a moment when I felt a bit good, but at no time was I fast on my legs. I was reacting slowly. When my legs are like that, my tennis does not respond, I lower the intensity. And the other one dominated me more. And when she dominates me more, the court becomes much smaller”, analysed Badosa to the media, after having a quixk shower and accompanied by part of her technical team.
It was a struggle with herself, in a stadium whose atmosphere didn’t help her: ‘I had a lot of negative phrases in my head. And there was a moment when… there was so much, so much, so much noise. And on top of that I couldn’t hear my team well either. And I don’t know what they are saying to me at that moment. And also with my internal noise I’ve become very small. And the first thing I wanted to do, if I’m honest, is to leave the track. In the end, even when you are so bad there, with such negative thoughts, you want to leave because in the end you become an ant’”.
But Badosa keeps her ambition alive despite the disappointment.
She experienced a tremendously positive North American swing, with results that a few months ago were not in her plans and that she would have signed with her eyes closed: title at the WTA 500 in Washington, semis at the 1000 in Cincinnati, and quarterfinals in New York.
“When you look at the differences between when I was in Madrid and when I was out of the top 100… Well, I would have signed it, obviously. If you tell me right now, I want more. I don’t want the top 20, I want the top 10. And when I’m in the top 10, I’m going to want the top 5. And when I’m in the top 5…. It’s always been the same for me’, reflected Badosa, who next Monday will appear in the top 20 of the WTA rankings.
She set herself psychological challenges: ‘I have to learn to do that. To be happy, to be more in the present. The injury has helped me to appreciate things more. But there are always tense moments and I notice it especially in the Grand Slams. In the Masters 1000 or in a 500 I manage it much better because I’ve been there more. But wanting it so much in a Grand Slam is a bit big for me in these rounds’.
