If tennis is your passion, get acquainted with famous players and learn about their professional journeys. Paula Bados is on our agenda. Below is a comprehensive look at her tennis career. We will take you through her early life, interests, role models, junior and professional career, playing strengths, and even her personal life. Stay tuned to find out more about Paula Badosa.
Personal Information | |
Player’s Name | Paula Badosa Gibert |
Place of Birth | US, New York |
Nationality | Spanish |
Date of Birth | 15.11.1997 |
Place of Residence | UAE |
Height | 1.8m |
Current Singles Rank (2024) | 65 |
Current Doubles Rank (2024) | 359 |
Early Life and Background
Paula Bados is a professional Spanish tennis player born in New York, US. Her family had a passion for the fashion industry, but due to certain circumstances, they had to move back to Spain, luckily for Paula. She tried her career in modeling in the US, but it turned out to be a struggle with depression and constant anxiety. The start of her tennis career was in Barcelona when Paula was seven. After that, she traveled across the country to progress in sports, particularly in Valencia and successfully participated in Junior contests. When she was seventeen years old, she moved back to Barcelona.
According to a few interviews, tennis has been an obsession since childhood, and Paula could not live a day without a training session. She cried when it was raining. Her endeavor to become a professional tennis player was a success, as you can see now. This success also could not have been possible without her role models: Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, and Simona Halep.
Junior Career
The beginning of this fantastic tennis career started at Club Tennis D’Aro. The day she debuted in ITF Junior Circut, 2012, will be remembered forever. However, 2014 was a significant year for Badosa. Her first severe singles victory was in 2014, in Grade 1. After that, the doubles semifinals in Trofeo Juan Carlos Ferrero in Grade 1 and other life-changing events that have shown Paula a clear path to go. In 2014, she reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in both singles and doubles. But, after she won the girls’ singles titles in the same championship in 2015, the road to the professional league was opened.
Professional Career Beginnings
To ensure the rapid growth in the sport, Paula debuted on the ITF Junior Circut in 2012. The year after, she won the first desired title in Sant Jordi, province of Castellon. She quickly transitioned to the pro level in 2015 when she broke through at the Miami Open, winning two matches on the WTA tour and losing to the 14 seed Karolina Pleskova. Her next few years of life were filled with mixed emotions, being retired from some events. Yes, she had mental problems at the beginning of her professional career. Once, she said that she had to win every match to fight the stress and anxiety. That was the time of rapid growth. Fortunately for her, many good people were around, like Jorge Garcia, who helped her a lot in the beginning. She desired to be in the top 10 ranks by the end of 2021; however, only in 2022 she managed to get there. Tennis is a big sport, and if you have a desire to make a prediction on the future Badosa matches, try out betting on tennis with 1xBet India and get a professional platform with extensive betting features, increased tennis odds, and generous promotions for beginners and professionals.
Breakthrough and Major Achievements
After three years, Badosa reached the quarterfinals in the Morocco Open, destroying P. Hercog and F. Ferro, M. Frech, A. Rus, and B. Eraydin. And unfortunately, lost to Aleksandra Krunic. However, in the same year, she won the finals of the Open de Valencia and got a prize of $60,000. To summarize her career beginnings, it’s crucial to mention the extraordinary win at the Grand Slam match in Australia in 2020, successfully reaching the semifinals in the Istanbul Cup, and, of course, the French Open, where Badosa managed to defeat former Grand Slam champions.
The next three years of her career stand out by the number of tennis and self-achievements. In May 2021, she entered the WTA 1000 semifinals in one of the most significant events in Spain, the Madrid Open. She was the first Spanish player in the history of this tournament to enter the semifinals. And a piece of cake was to beat the current world No. 1 A. Barty and get a new height in the ranking. By the end of 2021, Badosa had won the Indian Wells tournament and qualified for the WTA finals, where she successfully reached the semifinals.
2022 is the year when Paula received her third career title and climbed the world WTA ranking to No. 2. This was the breakthrough point of her career, getting the title in Sydney by beating the French Open champion Barbora Krejčíková and then showing great results on the Stuttgart Open, which helped her to reach the highest pick in her tennis career, the No. 2 rank. Unfortunately, 2023 was not the best year for Badosa, dropping out from the top 20. And there is an unpleasant reason for that. A back injury.
Playing Style and Strengths
Many tennis enthusiasts would be interested in the Badosa playing techniques, skills, and strengths that helped her to reach such heights. She has gone through numerous mental and physical changes and has become an extremely powerful tennis player with a strong two-handed backhand groundstroke, which allows her to dominate on the court. In the combination of a powerful weapon of a serve, which she calls her favorite shot, and an incredible groundstroke, the opponents must prepare exclusive tactics towards Badosa to have a chance.
When it comes to statistics, fans love to predict the number of first-serve points that Badosa often has an advantage with. She does not like to extend the game and prefers the short points achieved by the aggressive serve and accurate and powerful groundstrokes. In addition, she had multiple anxiety moments that helped her to become emotionally strong under pressure and be able to manage any stress during the tournaments.
Due to her constant love for Maria Sharapova, it’s not a secret that many tennis readers compare the styles of these two professional players. The aggression in her playing style, ability to cover mental illnesses, and super strength on the court were inspired by Sharapova’s style. This fact shows that the idol in sport is extremely important.
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Challenges and Comebacks
Injury is one of the most painful words for professional sports players. Numerous professional athletes were forced to end their careers due to broken limbs, back injuries, and other body imperfections. Unfortunately, Paula Badosa is no exception. 2023 was the year when the doctor said to her, “It would be complicated,” when she got a stress fracture in her back. She cried a lot while talking to doctors that do not recommend her to keep playing. However, her personality and strong character do not allow her to give up. She does not want to hear what medics say and pushes herself to recover as quickly as possible. Her attitude helps her to say that it’s not over. The career is not over. She is going to keep fighting no matter what. No excuses.
Personal Life and Interests
The move from the US to Spain was not complicated. Thanks to that, she founded her vocation to become a professional tennis player. Her multilingual speaking abilities allow her to stay social, making friends from various continents. As a result, Badosa has been in different relationships. Currently, her partner is Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is also a tennis player. In addition, Badosa has been an internist in fashion since youth. It’s probably parental influence that has worked in this field for many years. Her favorite designer is Armani. On some day, she said, her parents were instrumental in meeting with him. Since then, she has been obsessed with this clothing brand.
Recent Performances and Current Status
Paula Badosa’s current rating is 65, and the W/L ratio is 16/13. And when it comes to doubles, she has a 359 ranking and 2/0 W/L. These results allowed her to make $756,654 in prize money. Due to the injury, her performance during 2024 was not as she expected. However, Badosa is a great tennis player. According to the odds, Badosa has a quite competitive attitude, and many sports analytics believe in her. The latest performance in Berlin and Bad Hamburg, Wimbledon, was a success. We expect her to stay competitive and climb into the top 50 rank by the end of the year.
Impact and Legacy
Even though she is just 26, many consider Badosa to be retired and focused on the training activities for children. Thus, it may be true, and the reason is her few injuries that make it challenging to achieve the same results that were in 2022. But such heights have inspired many young tennis players to keep practicing and reach success. Moreover, Paula is an active speaker on different TV shows and podcasts that also impact listeners to keep pushing the boundaries and progress. Badosa is a loved and respected player with a vast legacy in the tennis community. That’s why many sports enthusiasts love to take interviews or film short motivational movies with her.
Conclusion
Badosa is an excellent example of strength and passion. She struggles but still keeps pushing and receives tremendous results. At least the No. 2 in 2022 in WTA has a significant impact on the whole tennis community. Unfortunately, the injuries happen and make it complicated to keep up. But Paula is different. She will play and compete for titles no matter what the doctors say.