Paula Badosa says she will fight to prolong her career as a tennis player after doctors told her that ‘it would be complicated’ to continue playing.
The former world No.2 suffered a stress fracture in her back last year and continues to be affected by the issue. Due to the injury, she ended her 2023 season after Wimbledon and has already retired from matches three times on the Tour this season due to health issues. Although not all of those retirements were directly linked to her back problem. Her latest retirement was at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix where she managed to take a set off Aryna Sabalenka before having to call it quits in the decider.
Speaking to reporters in Madrid on Tuesday, Badosa confirmed that doctors have told her that she may need to have cortisone shots in order to continue playing tennis. Something the tennis star is still trying to get to grips with.
“I cried a lot and I’m still crying sometimes when I hear that and when I have talks with the doctors,” she said.
“But at the same time, I have this personality, this character that it’s like, ‘I will still get through it, I will still keep fighting’. I’m like that, I’m a little bit stubborn. But I think maybe that in this case can help.”
Badosa has won three WTA titles so far in her career with her best Grand Slam performance being a run to the quarter-finals of the 2021 French Open. She qualified for the 2021 WTA Finals where she reached the semi-final stage.
“Sometimes you just don’t want to accept what the doctor says and you’re like, ‘For sure they’re making a mistake’. I just try to stay positive,” she continued.
“There are some days that I wake up and I’m not feeling that well and I ask myself, ‘Is this worth it?'”
Badosa has undergone four hours of treatment every day heading into this week’s Madrid Open where she will play qualifier Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro in the first round. Maniero recently broke into the world’s top 100 and won the biggest title of her career at a Turkish WTA 125 event earlier this year.
