Paula Badosa has revealed why she did not partner with World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to play doubles at the 2025 Brisbane International. Instead, the Spaniard paired with Ons Jabeur to compete in the WTA 500 tournament.
Paula Badosa began her 2025 season at the Brisbane International, where she played her first match in a doubles contest with Ons Jabeur. The duo faced fourth-seeded Alexandra Panova and Guo Hanyu and emerged victorious 6-4, 5-7, 10-8. Unfortunately, their campaign ended in the quarterfinals against eventual champions Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.
Badosa was asked about her choice of playing doubles at the 2025 Brisbane International and why she chose Jabeur as her partner. The Spaniard wanted to get some game time under her belt before the singles match and chose the Tunisian because of their friendship.
Badosa then quipped that she picked Jabeur over another close friend Sabalenka because the latter does not need any extra gametime. The trio is amongst the closest friends on the WTA Tour and often entertain fans with their antics on the court and on social media.
"Well, we just played doubles, decided to play doubles sometimes when we need some matches. I think it helps each other. With Ons, I have a great relationship. Also with Aryna if it happens also, but I think she doesn't need a lot of matches right now (smiling). She's good with that," Badosa said.
Fans can expect to see Badosa and Jabeur play more doubles in 2025. While singles is always her top priority, the Spaniard opined that playing doubles is a great way to practice and work out problems in her game style.
"It's a partnership that maybe you can keep seeing. It's like we have singles on our mind always and it's our priority. To play doubles, it's always helpful especially to work other stuff."
"So yeah, I played there in Brisbane. Unfortunately I couldn't play a lot of singles matches there. Wasn't a bad match either. But yeah, looking forward to play here as much as I can," she continued.
Paula Badosa also competed in the singles category in 2025 Brisbane International. After receiving a first-round bye, the fourth seed lost to Elina Avanesyan in the second round 3-6,6-1,2-6.
Paula Badosa heads to Adelaide before competing at Australian Open 2025
Paula Badosa will next compete at the 2025 Adelaide International. She is seeded fifth in the women's singles main draw and will face American youngster Peyton Stearns in the first round on Monday, January 6. This will be the second tour-level meeting between the two women. Badosa won the only previous contest, beating Stearns in the first round of the 2024 Cincinnati Open.
Adelaide International will be the final stop for the Spaniard before the Australian Open. Badosa, who won the 2024 WTA Comeback Player of the Year, will be seeded 11th at the year's first Grand Slam. She will be defending 130 points at the tournament after reaching the third round last year.
Badosa defeated Taylor Townsend and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before losing to Amanda Anisimova in the third round of the 2024 Australian Open. Her best performance at the tournament was a fourth-round finish in 2022.