"Paula Badosa's in the spotlight with her boyfriend" - Monica Puig says criticism over relationship with Tsitsipas would be 'challenging' for Spaniard

Former tennis player Monica Puig recently suggested that Paula Badosa would find it "challenging" to deal with the criticism over her relationship with boyfriend Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Badosa made a disappointing start to her tennis return on Monday, January 8, with a loss to Bernarda Pera at the Adelaide International. She started the match strongly by securing the opening set, but soon lost track and lost the next two sets cheaply to hand Pera a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win.

This was the Spaniard's first competitive appearance since pulling out of her second-round encounter with Marta Kostyuk at Wimbledon in July 2023. She experienced discomfort in her back from the injury she sustained at the Italian Open a few months before, and didn't compete the rest of the season.

Incidentally, Badosa and Tsitsipas went public with their relationship during the London Major and have been together ever since. Badosa is slated to participate in the Australian Open 2024 next.

Rio Olympic champion Monica Puig recently expressed her opinion on the pitfalls Badosa could come across during the initial few days of her comeback. In an episode of Tennis Channel Live Podcast, the Puerto Rican said (9:13):

"She [Badosa] is always talking about her mental health and how much she has struggled with the pressure in dealing with all of that. She’s in the spotlight with her boyfriend and now there is a lot of criticism about tennis players and their personal lives as well. Dealing with that is very, very challenging."

Puig added that Paula Badosa should make the most out of the initial phase as she would be free from the pressure of performing well Down Under. She said:

"She took a lot of time off in 2023, sometimes when you do take time off, well, tennis evolves, players evolve, there’s a lot of things that are changing. So, she needs time to get back into the game, kind of see what things are going on, what wheels are turning for other players and work her from there.

"But right now, pressure is off, nobody is really expecting much from her so she has to kind of roll with the punches at the beginning of this year."

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A brief account of Paula Badosa's Australian Open appearances

Paula Badosa

Paula Badosa will enter the Australian Open women's singles main draw for the fifth time since turning pro in the year 2015. She lost to Kimberly Birell in the opening round during her maiden appearance in 2019.

The Spaniard bettered her previous year's performance in 2020 as she won the opener at the Happy Slam. Badosa, however, crashed out in the second round, losing to Petra Kvitova.

In 2021, the 26-year-old returned empty-handed from Melbourne as she lost to Liudmila Samsonova in the first round.

Paula Badosa's best result at the Australian Open came in 2022, when she went as far as the fourth round as the eighth seed.