Get Back: Paula Badosa turns pain into power with summer surge ahead of US Open

NEW YORK—It all happened so fast, Paula Badosa’s first rise up the WTA rankings.

“You remember,” she says in her Castilian-accented contralto, smiling as she leans on the wall of the Cincinnati Open’s Center Court.

We’re standing just off the entrance to the Paul Flory Player Center. As athletes come and go, their name and picture lights up a pair of screens at the entrance, spotting an extra few seconds to shouting fans who’ve gathered on either side of the proverbial red carpet.

When Badosa hits the big screens, her modelesque headshot is accompanied by an equally enviable resume: career-high ranking of No. 2, Grand Slam quarterfinalist, and a WTA 1000 victory at the BNP Paribas Open—all of which she accomplished in a wildly successful 12-month sprint.

“It was like No. 80 to No. 2 in a year,” she recalls. “I do things like this, I guess!”

That may be an understatement. Up over 100 spots in the rankings in under three months, it’s all happening again for the New York-born Spaniard. Even more impressive is that it’s happening at all.

“It was practically 10 months without moving,” Badosa says of the injury that nearly ended her career.

At 24, Badosa was looking to start fresh after a disappointing finish to her 2022 season saw her fall from the Top 10. Instead she suffered injury to insult with back pain that forced her out of three of 2023’s four major tournaments. By July, she had completely stopped playing.

I have to say, when I first got to the top, it was really fast: it was like No. 80 to No. 2 in a year. I do things like this, I guess! Paula Badosa

Her back was slow to heal as she attempted to return. Outside the Top 100 in the spring, Badosa revealed she had resorted to cortisone injections, signaling she was perhaps playing on borrowed time.

“It really is a rollercoaster, and you wake up every day not knowing what is going to happen,” she told me at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

Compounding her uncertainty was her recent breakup with boyfriend Stefanos Tsitsipas, the other half of “Tsitsidosa” with whom she had enjoyed a very public year-long relationship.

“Sometimes it’s better to separate ways,” she said at the time, adding he was “the right person at the wrong moment.”

What a difference a week makes.

By Roland Garros, Badosa underwent her second and final round of cortisone shots and reunited with Tsitsipas. Professionally and personally, Paula Badosa was back.

“Sometimes you need a break to realize things and manage them better,” she tells me somewhat sheepishly in Cincinnati. “That’s what we did: we had a very long talk on how we were going to deal with things going forward. Since then, it’s been great for both of us. We’re very happy with how we’re handling our relationship on and off court.”

Tsitsidosa is still going strong in New York—teaming up to win the US Open’s inaugural Mixed Madness competition and sharing a whopping $250,000 prize—even as their dynamic has completely flipped. At the time of their split, Tsitsipas was supporting Badosa through his own career upswing, culminating with a Masters 1000 win in Monte Carlo.

I just want him to fly but if he falls, he knows I’m going to be there for him. Paula Badosa on Stefanos Tsitsipas

Now it’s Badosa in the midst of a renaissance, winning her first title in over two years at the Mubadala Citi DC Open and taking a 10-2 record on summer hard courts into Flushing Meadows. Meanwhile, Tsitsipas is in a period upheaval, publicly firing father Apostolos as his head coach and winning just one of his last three matches.

Despite any GIFs to the contrary, Badosa insists she was left entirely out of the loop on this one.

“I found out like you guys,” she laughs. “Later on, I called him like, ‘Could you please, maybe before press, let me know next time?’

“Look," she continues. "I’m a very independent woman myself and I make my own decisions. Of course, we talk about everything but in this situation, he wanted to do it on his own because it’s a very personal thing. It’s a family thing, so I don’t want to get involved with that. I have my opinion but I want him to make his own decisions and grow by himself.”

She finishes with a poetic flourish.

“I just want him to fly but if he falls, he knows I’m going to be there for him.”

And yet it may take some effort from Tsitsipas to match her ever-increasing altitude. Her semifinal finish in Cincinnati was her best result at a WTA 1000 since 2022, guaranteeing herself a Grand Slam seed (No. 26) a full six months ahead of the schedule she laid out with coach Pol Toledo Bagué.

I have the tennis and the talent to adapt...Some years ago, I would put myself down and tell myself I wasn’t good in certain conditions. This year I changed completely on that, and I think for the moment, it’s working pretty well. Paula Badosa

“He opened the notebook and told me, ‘Right now, you’re No. 115. What are your goals for this year?’ He knows that I don’t like to speak about rankings but in that moment, it was between us, an intimate conversation.

“I was like, ‘Look, I think it would be very good if our goal was for me to be seeded next year at the Australian Open.’ We talked about being ranked No. 60, and he calculated the points that I needed to make that happen. One month and a half after, I’m already No. 30 in the world.

“He was like, ‘Ok, I wasn’t expecting that! I believed a lot in you, but that’s really, really fast!’ I was like, ‘Well, you challenged me!’ But it’s crazy, right?”

I nod in agreement at a player I thought was on the brink of retirement only three months ago, at a young woman I first met in 2019 when she revealed past struggles with mental health.

It turns out one dark time prepared Badosa for another, inspiring radical optimism throughout this latest odyssey.

“I have all these positive sentences that I work with,” she explains. “Even on my racquet, I have quotes there. So, I work a lot on the mental side of me, and also with my psychologist. Every day, we have a talk before and after matches. That’s become a key for me because mentally, when I’m stable, balanced, and I believe in myself, I have no limits.”

Badosa believes in turning pain into power, a mantra that helped her embrace the “suffering” that came with rebuilding her physicality and thrive in the quick conditions—and with the lighter tennis balls—she once despised.

When I was at my best, my physicality was one of my strengths and also my mentality, that I was always fighting no matter the score. Long matches were my specialty, and right now it’s back again. Paula Badosa

“I remember when I came to Washington, I was like, ‘No! The [Regular Duty] balls again! I hate them!’ But I adapted myself really well. I decided, ‘Look, this year, I’m not going to complain about them.’ I was telling my coach that I would accept that the conditions are going to be very fast, and I would try to use it in my favor.

“I realized it helps me be very focused on my serve, my first shot, and on staying low. It helped me see that I have the tennis and the talent to adapt myself. Some years ago, I would put myself down and tell myself I wasn’t good in certain conditions. This year I changed completely on that, and I think for the moment, it’s working pretty well.”

Badosa has also gotten good vibes from friends Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur. Jabuer stayed in Cincinnati despite withdrawing due to injury and could be seen in the stands cheering Badosa. As for “Tour Soulmate” Sabalenka, she saw this comeback coming all the way back in April, when Badosa was likely at her lowest.

“When I had to retire during our match there, I was crying so much and she was saying in my ear, ‘Don’t worry: you’ll be back to the Top 10 very soon.’

“Sometimes I wonder, ‘Are they saying this because they’re my friends or because they really believe it?’” she jokes. “But no, they really believe in me and that’s truly amazing to have rivals, competitors who are fighting for the same titles, for us to be friends at the end of the day.”

And so, Badosa will make her fifth main-draw appearance the US Open, a “home” Slam that never quite felt comfortable but presents a challenge she finally feels ready to face.

“I’d really like to do it well because it’s a special city for me,” says Badosa, who spent her earliest years in the tri-state area while her parents both worked as models—inarguably of the sport’s most fascinating origin stories.

“When I was at my best, my physicality was one of my strengths and also my mentality, that I was always fighting no matter the score. Long matches were my specialty, and right now it’s back again.”

Even if Badosa only has one speed, the 26-year-old is fine-tuned from growing two years stronger and wiser, ready to get back and get hers.