But she is very fit and also a natural mover, capable of counterpunching from the corners and chasing down the drop shots that the crafty Ons Jabeur tried against her in the semifinals on Friday. Badosa reached the fourth round of the French Open, which had been delayed from the spring until October, and after strong preparation in the off-season she was ready to do well at this year’s Australian Open only to end up, like Azarenka, in hard quarantine after the charter flight to Melbourne.īoth players ended up losing in the first round, but Badosa has gone on to have a breakthrough season: winning her first WTA Tour title in Belgrade in May and then following that with a run to the quarterfinals at the French Open, the fourth round of Wimbledon and the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics.Īt 5-foot-11, she has physical presence and big power on her serve, forehand and two-handed backhand.
VICTORIA 2 USA PROFESSIONAL
But her rise into the elite began in earnest after the five-month hiatus of the professional tours forced by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. She has chosen to be open about her off-court challenges, recording a video in 2019 that recounted her journey. But she went through a full-blown depression that left her struggling to get out of bed, much less train for competition.īadosa sought professional help, and found a new coach who helped retool her game and rebuild her confidence and perspective, and in January 2019, she qualified for her first Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open. She played her first professional satellite tournament at age 14, won two rounds at the Miami Open as a wild-card entrant at age 17 in 2015 and won the French Open junior title later that year. She was identified early as someone with the kind of drive and talent to become Spain’s next great women’s player after Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Conchita Martinez and Garbiñe Muguruza. That’s what kept me working hard and believing until the last moment.”īadosa was born in New York because her parents were working in the fashion industry, but the family soon moved back to Spain where Badosa began playing tennis. “In my case I have been through tough moments. “I think the first thing that I’ve learned this week is that nothing is impossible,” Badosa said. That is quite a climb for a player ranked 70th at the end of 2020. On Monday, she will break into the top 20 for the first time at No. Everybody was in a hurry, and I think I struggled a lot from the expectations, that by 20 or 21 you should be winning big tournaments.” “I suffered a lot, and I had to work on it a lot. “There were moments when I thought I would never make it here,” she said on Sunday.
VICTORIA 2 USA SERIES
But she was once a teen prodigy herself and is now doing justice to her talent after dealing with mental-health issues and working with a series of psychologists. Badosa, born in the United States, is the first Spanish woman to do so.Īt 23, she is older than either Osaka or Andreescu were when they made their breakthroughs at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Norrie, born in South Africa and raised in New Zealand, is the first British player to win the BNP Paribas Open singles title. Norrie, seeded 21st, also won his first top-tier title, defeating Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday. Time will also tell on Cameron Norrie, because Badosa’s unexpected run through a brutal draw that included Coco Gauff and three major singles champions was not the only surprise in Indian Wells. Time will tell on the 27th-ranked Paula Badosa, who won her first top-tier championship on Sunday with a 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (2) victory over Victoria Azarenka in a thriller of a final that required three hours and four minutes of effort and resilience with on-court temperatures exceeding 90 degrees. Bianca Andreescu won the title in 2019 and did the same. Open by upsetting Serena Williams in the final. Naomi Osaka won the title in 2018 and then won the U.S. In its usual March dates, the BNP Paribas Open has been a launching pad for major talent in recent years.
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