US Open 2024: Summer has arrived, light has arrived for Paula Badosa | Tennis | Sports

Paula Badosa said in late spring that she felt her level was slowly rising, that despite the back pain – the damned vertebra damaged a year and a half ago – and the results were not as desired, the curve was rising. And her speech has been accompanied by actions, her game, her performance. She is smiling now in New York, where she has landed after two redeeming and exciting months, very hopeful; at Wimbledon she reached the second week of the competition, for the first time on a big stage after two seasons, and the pleasant confirmation that her tennis was returning was accompanied by the title won in Washington and the semi-finals signed in Cincinnati, proof that her intuition did not fail her and that her return is on the right track.

Now, in Flushing Meadows, the story has started well: 6-0 and 6-3 in the debut against Viktoria Golubic, in 1h 09m. So the Catalan, stubborn as she is, determined to contradict that annoying back that has led her down the path of bitterness, continues to feed on those good feelings that she has been recovering after having hit rock bottom at the end of April, in the Caja Mágica in Madrid, where she lost in the first round against Jessica Bouzas in an episode that did a lot of damage to her emotionally. From there, a change of mentality and a rebound. resetHitting rock bottom, the unwanted remedy that once worked for her—when depression was not far from keeping her away from tennis—and that has now restored her brilliance again.

Badosa is used to frequently intervening in her team structure, redoing and changing cards when looking for solutions. And on this occasion, she opted for a return to the past; specifically to 2021, when she triumphed in Indian Wells and presented herself at the top. In May, she resumed the help of David Antona (physical trainer) and Dani de la Serna (nutritionist and psychologist), who joined the machinery directed from the bench by the young Pol Toledo, 29 years old. Since then, more work, patience, determination and conviction; also the complex process of understanding that her back is irreversible (“chronic”) and that as a professional tennis player she will have to live with the ailment. Better and worse days, but she is still there.

She gave up competing in the Paris Olympics in order to try to earn points that would allow her to return to the elite part of the circuit, and the gamble has paid off for her so far. “I have learned that I am stronger than I thought,” she says. “It is not just the fact of winning matches, but how I am doing it,” she explains, referring to the course she completed before entering Flushing Meadows, summed up in 11 wins (in 13 matches) that have raised her to 29th place on the list. The cost of her physical illness relegated her to 140th, so the rise – 111 positions in three months, 84 in the summer – sheds light on a situation that was not so long ago grim. The doctors suggested the possibility of undergoing surgery, but an operation would have ruled her out of the elite and the refusal was categorical.

“Scared”

Once again hopeful, Badosa (26 years old) intends to shake off the bad taste she has in her mouth at the tournament in New York, the city where she was born and grew up until her family decided to return to Spain. Last year she was unable to compete due to a back injury and in the four previous participations she was unable to overcome the barrier of the second round, a low threshold for a player of considerable potential. It is therefore an optimal moment for the turnaround. In the next round she will face the American Taylor Townsend, current number eight and in good dynamics. It will not be easy, but she is confident and pushing.

“I feel good, confident. I was good in the backcourt and although I was average on serve, I have room to make some adjustments. For a first round, with all the tension, it was a pretty decent match,” she says. “Confidence does a lot, because you dare more with your shots and when you have that positive dynamic, you win without meaning to, whereas when you are in the opposite direction, everything is much harder and it becomes a mountain. When I am sure of myself, my game responds very well,” she continues, then revealing the plan that she and her coach have drawn up to recover lost ground.

“When I finished Roland Garros, I sat down with my coach and, although I hate talking about rankingbecause at that time I was out of the top-100 “And for me that is a disaster, we planned to finish the year well to be seeded in Australia. I felt very good on the grass tour, although I missed out on some very close matches, and the work I have been doing these last few months has allowed me to be seeded here, something I honestly did not expect,” continues Badosa, who arrived at the North American tour “scared” by the possibility that her back would hurt again. And those pains are still there, but under control, and what before seemed very bleak is taking on another color, without ever losing faith.

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