Badosa: "I will never feel free until I win the tournament"

Mónica Barberán Munera | 21 Jan 2025 | 05.44

Paula Badosa at the Australian Open 2025. Photo: Getty

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Paula Badosa will step into the semis of the Australian Open 2025, her first Grand Slam semifinals after defeating Coco Gauff. Paula achieves this while reaching her peak level after going through a hell with her back problems that led her out of the top 100. Now, a revamped Paula who will return among the top 10 in the world, wants to keep feeling free to try to win the title. In a press conference, the Spanish player talked about how she now feels consistent, which is very different from when she was world number 2.

- Close to retirement due to her back problems

"There was a point last year when I was very close because I didn't see myself at the level. My back wasn't responding well, I couldn't find solutions, but I wanted to give it a last shot, a final chance to finish the year and see how it went. And well, here I am. I'm very proud of everything my team and I have been through, especially the way we fought against all this, especially mentally."

- Giving it all on the court to win the tournament

"I will never feel free until I win the tournament. I'm always like that, it's my personality, my character. Perhaps today I had slightly lower expectations, but I still felt pressure because I wanted to win desperately. I will enter the court in the semifinals, I don't care who I face, and I will want to win desperately. That's part of me. I believe that when I reach the final round, my level increases and that's what I want to do, give my 100% there and leave everything on the court."

- Do you feel you have returned to where you belong?

"Of course. Since I returned last year here in Australia, my goal, and I said it in January, was that I wanted to be the standout comeback of the year. I achieved that. When I started this year, I also said that I wanted to be one of the best players in the world and prove it, be consistent. That's my goal for this 2025."

- Sabalenka, her potential rival in the semis

"Aryna is proving why she is the number 1 in the world right now. She is being very consistent, very aggressive. She is an intense player, always very difficult to face. I faced her last year here, but I think I wasn't in the form I am now. So if it's Aryna, I'm looking forward to that match."

- Difference in her consistency compared to when she was world number 2

"I think it's really different because when I was world number 2, everything happened very quickly. Perhaps I didn't handle the expectations well at that moment. I was very scared when playing against a player with a lower ranking than me. I thought: 'what if I lose? What will they say?' I thought a lot about that. Now I don't care because I can accept it, and that can be seen now in my level. You can lose to anyone, and you can win against anyone. I think that has helped me play more freely. When I play more freely, I play good tennis, and that's when I become more consistent. Also, I accept when my opponent has good moments in a match, I try to deal with them and find solutions. So in the end, it boils down to me being more mature."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Badosa: "No me voy a sentir libre nunca hasta que gane el torneo"