"I love competing, suddenly I had to stop completely and stay on the couch" - Paula Badosa on 'boring' period during prolonged injury layoff

Ahead of her comeback at the 2024 Adelaide International, Paula Badosa opened up about her experience of a "boring" period in her life during the prolonged injury layoff she had last season.

Badosa's 2023 season was unfortunately marred by a series of injuries. She endured a thigh injury, an abductor injury, and even a spinal stress fracture. Her last participation of the season was in Wimbledon.

The Spaniard wanted to make a comeback at the Canadian Open but was unable to do so due to inadequate recovery. Consequently, she concluded the season after Wimbledon and directed her efforts towards recuperation in hopes of having a good 2024 season.

Paula Badosa will be returning to the tour this year, at the Adelaide International. Speaking to the press ahead of her campaign in Adelaide, Badosa opened up about her hiatus, which was necessitated by injuries.

The former World No. 2 expressed that the rehabilitation has been a "slow process", and suddenly putting a stop to playing tennis, which she loves, proved to be quite "boring" for her.

"It was a very slow process. Accepting all this has been very hard, especially mentally, because as I always say, I love playing tennis and I love competing. Suddenly, one day I had to stop completely and I had to stay on the couch, so imagine how boring that was," Paula Badosa said via Marca (translated from Spanish).

A look into Paula Badosa's 2023 season

Paula Badosa at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships

Paula Badosa's 2023 season was filled with injuries, resulting in a short campaign. She competed in ten tournaments throughout the year, with her sole Grand Slam appearance coming at the Wimbledon Championships.

Badosa kicked off her 2023 season at the Adelaide International 2. She was having a good tournament and managed to advance to the semi-finals where she was to face Daria Kasatkina. Unfortunately, the Spaniard was forced to withdraw from the match due to a thigh injury, granting fifth-seeded Kasatkina a walkover into the final.

The 26-year-old then missed the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, as well as the Abu Dhabi Open due to an abductor injury. She made a comeback at the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships but she was unable to move past the first round. Badosa next competed at the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open but couldn't progress beyond the second round.

Things started to look up for Paula Badosa and she had quarter-final runs at the Charleston Open, the Stuttgart Open, and the Italian Open.

However, the former World No. 2 endured a stress fracture in her spine during the Italian Open's last eight matches. This injury compelled her to withdraw from the remainder of the clay court season, including the French Open.

Badosa made her comeback to the tour at the Wimbledon Championships. She advanced to the second round at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club by defeating America's Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-3, 6-3. However, she was forced to retire from her second-round match against Marta Kostyuk due to a lower back injury, when she was trailing 2-6, 0-1.

In addition to her singles matches at Wimbledon, the Spaniard had plans to compete in mixed doubles alongside her boyfriend, Stefanos Tsitsipas. However, due to her injury, she had no choice but to withdraw from that event as well.

Paula Badosa had initially planned to participate in both the Canadian Open and the US Open. However, she had to withdraw from these tournaments due to the re-emergence of her injury.