2023-04-27 01:21:11
Paula Badosa returns home. The best positioned Spaniard in the ranking debuts in her land, before her audience and with the aim of maintaining the good feelings with which she arrives. She is confident that Madrid will be a turning point in her season, whose trend has begun to turn in recent weeks: «I have been working very well, with great desire and great enthusiasm. Hopefully the coup de effect is here because I like to do very well in this tournament.”
Badosa’s feelings in the clay court campaign have been positive. She reached the quarterfinals at the WTA 500 in Stuttgart and Charleston, where she was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula, ranked second and third, respectively. «i’m playing better. Against the best I am having many options, but the parties are not falling on my side. I think it’s the dynamic, because they come with a lot of confidence and I’m hesitating a bit. The most important thing is that I am playing with enthusiasm », she asserts.
The conditions in which the Catalan faces the MMO have nothing to do with the last edition. Given the casualties that occurred, Badosa became a favorite and expectations were exceeded. The pressure and a complicated draw caused her to fall in the second round against Simona Halep, a double Grand Slam winner. This year, without denying that she would love to win, she acknowledges that your goals should be other: «Look for a style of play, recover my best mental version and enjoy, because it is a week that is both difficult and beautiful. I want to feel good on the track, like I’ve been doing these past few weeks.”
Ronda a ronda
Badosa’s path to the final on May 6 could see her face Coco Gauff in the third round and then Maria Sakkari, Caroline Garcia or Aryna Sabalenka. But the Catalan does not look beyond the day to day. «I have not looked that far, I focus on the first game I have. From there, we’ll see. Hopefully I can face those players, who are the best in the world and are the games I like to play, even more so at home with the public on my side.”
To do this, the first hurdle you have to overcome is the Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto, number 50 in the world. They have never met and the prize for the winner is qualification for the third round, which will probably include Gauff, the sixth seed.
One of the most relevant aspects of Madrid are its conditions for playing tennis, totally different from those that Badosa experienced in Stuttgart, his last tournament. Going from playing indoors to outdoors and the higher altitude of the capital mean that it is not easy to adapt. For the Catalan it is precisely that adaptation the greatest virtue of the tennis player “Each tournament we must face this process of adapting to the new conditions, which is why we come days in advance,” he concludes.
“Hopefully the Mutua will be a coup de effect because I like to play at a high level at home”
Paula Badosa
Ranking number 42
Going from playing on German soil to the Caja Mágica is not the only adaptation that Badosa has faced. At the head of his team came the relief of Jorge García, whose position was taken over by the British Joel Cannell. All this in search ofstability and fresh air». «That they have played tennis contributes and makes them empathize with me on the court. They know me a lot, both mentally and my style. They know how I have to play. Therefore, I believed that it was a good time for change.
On the other hand, Badosa has always defended mental health in tennis. In line with the break that Garbiñe Muguruza has decided to take, she recalls: «This It is a very hard sport mentally and people are not aware of how difficult it is. Likewise, she wishes her prompt return because “Spanish tennis needs her.”
Paula Badosa trusts that she feels the Caja Mágica as her home and resume the tennis level that led her to be number 2 in the world a year ago. She has the support of the Madrid public, who deposit their hopes in her racket and are eager to witness her successes.
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