Paula Badosa: "I tell Aryna Sabalenka, 'Now that I'm injured, you can win anything but when I come back, leave some for me'"

Spanish tennis sensation Paula Badosa recently weighed in on her equation with Belarusia's Aryna Sabalenka.

Badosa and Sabalenka have developed an amicable bond over the last couple of years. The duo have thus far clashed on four occasions and share two victories each.

The Spaniard, once ranked as high as the World No. 2, hasn't been able to perform at her best since suffering a back injury at the Italian Open 2023. On the other hand, Sabalenka has earned her spurs with her on-court brilliance in the recent past.

In the 2023 season, Sabalenka won the Adelaide International (WTA 500), Australian Open, and Madrid Open (WTA 1000), and took over the World No. 1 ranking from Iga Swiatek for eight weeks.

Moreover, the Belarusian started 2024 by defending her Melbourne Major title and is currently afloat at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Whereas Badosa had to withdraw from the Indian Wells with injury woes.

Badosa is nonetheless happy to see Sabalenka achieve great things in tennis but hopes that her friend will let her win some titles once she gets fit enough to compete.

"Now that I haven't been able to play and I was injured, for me, the happiest thing was to see her win. So yeah, I always tell her, 'Ok, now that I'm injured, you can win anything you want. But when I come back, just leave some for me'," Paula Badosa said in a recent episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast.

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Paula Badosa: "I can call Aryna Sabalenka a friend and that's something beautiful"

Paula Badosa (L) and Aryna Sabalenka share a laugh.

Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka discovered similarities in each other's personalities after they participated in an exhibition event a couple of years ago. During the same episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, Badosa said:

"It was a few years ago, we played an exhibition and we started to chat and we realized that we had very similar personalities and we get along very well."

Badosa then suggested that she feels blessed to have a friend in Sabalenka, who is otherwise one of her on-court rivals.

"So it's very nice for me having a friend on tour because it's very tough to find, so I think we respect each other a lot and we appreciate each other. I can call her a friend and that's something beautiful," Paula Badosa added.

Notably, Aryna Sabalenka has made a winning start to her Indian Wells campaign as she defeated Peyton Stearns in her opener. She will next face Britain's Emma Raducanu.