Paula Badosa: “Tennis players, we're constantly judged every match, even every shot, every point... it's a bit tough”

Paula Badosa recently opened up about the struggles in the life of a professional tennis player.

Badosa has been in and out of on-court action since damaging her back during the Italian Open in May 2023. In the 2024 season, she has played a total of nine matches on the women's singles circuit, out of which two have ended in her retiring midway.

Moreover, she pulled out of the Abu Dhabi Open in February after making it to the main draw and most recently withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells due to an injury. She was scheduled to face Ashlyn Krueger in her opener.

Badosa, once the World No. 2, has slipped off the Top 50 and currently sits in the 73rd position in the WTA rankings as her inconsistency has raised several eyebrows on her future.

The Spaniard appeared in a recent episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast and suggested that she has had a hard time being under constant scrutiny as a tennis player.

"I think especially tennis players, we're constantly judged every match, even every shot, every point, they're judging us from the outside. I totally understand it. But for us sometimes it's a little bit tough. But yeah, I feel that of course we're judged every tournament," Paula Badosa said. [at 14:28]

Also, the former World No. 2 noted that she hadn't been able to relax and reflect on how good she was on the court two years ago.

"In that moment, no! I was feeling so much pressure and it was so stressful for me. But now that 2 years past, I value that a lot. And now after my injury, I had a lot of time to think about it and of course, I said, 'Oh, I've been pretty good you know', because you don't realize that in that moment you don't value it," she said.

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"In my mind, I shouldn't play especially with this injury but then my heart says another thing" - Paula Badosa on deciding when to stop pushing herself

Paula Badosa

Paula Badosa further stated that stopping herself from competing on the court due to physical limitations was the hardest thing to do.

"For me it's the hardest one because as an athlete you just want to compete every week. As I said at the beginning, I love to play tennis, I love to compete, I was born with this thing you know," she said [at 15:04].

Badosa claimed that she is always uncertain whether to make a rational decision or an emotional one.

"So for me, it's very tough to manage because maybe in my mind, I shouldn't play because in some moments of my, especially with this injury but then my heart says another thing so learning how to take this good decisions in that moment it's the hardest part for me," Paula Badosa added.

Badosa has played nine matches so far in the 2024 season, winning four of them. The Spaniard's last competitive tournament was the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she retired during her first-round match against Lulu Sun.

Badosa is next scheduled to appear at the Miami Open as she is in the tournament's entry list.