Badosa, optimistic in Madrid: "When you have been one of the best, everything can change in a moment"

Carlos Navarro | 20 Apr 2026 | 13.57

Badosa and a tough confession before Madrid. Source: Getty

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Few tournaments can offer a better opportunity to Paula Badosa to change her current dynamics than the Mutua Madrid Open 2026. Playing at home represents a real stimulus for the Spaniard, who arrives at the Caja Mágica in search of feelings, victories, and points to climb back up the WTA ranking and leave behind the dark thoughts related to the discomfort that tie her day in and day out.

She herself admits that she does not arrive in the best possible condition to the capital, even revealing that she makes tactical adjustments and moves away from her essence as a player to shorten points and avoid excessive mileage... but if there is an event where she can give everything and push her physical limits, it is this one, as she confesses in a press conference where she appeared calm, serene, and eager to kickstart her machinery at home.

Badosa reveals her current situation: To what extent is she suffering from physical discomfort?

- Hobbies or pastimes to escape beyond tennis

"Well, I have many hobbies. Fortunately, I like to do very different things, I always say it and I think you see it. I also love, for example, dancing or going for a walk. I am also a very simple person in that aspect. I also like books, I am a person who really likes self-help books, also because I think they help me in my life. So, I do a little bit of everything. I also like to spend time with my people, especially when I am here in Madrid, which is something I cannot do much. I try to find moments for a bit of everything."

- Current physical and emotional state... and also thinking about Rome and Roland Garros

"I think everyone knows the current situation. I don't hide it and I never have. Obviously, I have arrived better at other tournaments, but this is the situation. I consider myself a person who has always emerged from the toughest moments. Obviously, I think that, tennis-wise, the tennis is there, and from there it's about making changes, about changing the dynamics. Confidence helps a lot in that aspect.

And who knows, obviously, when someone has been one of the best players in the world, I think that in any tournament that situation can turn around and things can change. And I always have that faith, even if I'm in a very difficult moment. Now it's more a matter of mentality and tennis than physical, at least. Yes, my physical condition is responding well, that's positive. And now it's a bit about organizing the puzzle, in my mind and in my tennis, and finding myself again, because I believe that when I find myself, the tennis will come out."