Paula Badosa has revealed the inspiration behind her remarkable tennis comeback.
The Spaniard recently opened up on her return to the top 10 of the WTA rankings after she reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January.
After suffering a stress fracture in her back and losing nine times in 15 matches at the beginning of last year, Badosa was on the verge of quitting.
Eight months later, she is rising the ranks again, demonstrated when she beat world No.3 Coco Gauff to enjoy a career-best run to the semi-finals in Melbourne.
The 27-year-old opened up about what has motivated her during this rise — and her answer may be one her boyfriend and world No.11, Stefanos Tsitsipas, will not want to hear.
Badosa admitted that Tsitispas’ rivals Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have served as her biggest inspirations.
The Spaniard appeared on the Tennis Insider Club Podcast and praised the duo for the way they approach the game with a smile.
“Sometimes I look at them as an inspiration, because they deal with it [pressure], especially Carlitos [Carlos Alcaraz], it’s unbelievable,” she said.
“He’s like smiling all the time, I’m like, ‘You’re 5–5, and you’re smiling, how is this possible?’
“I think Jannik [Sinner] or Carlitos are very similar, so I think that’s like an inspiration for us, dealing with it that way is the proper way to do it.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have won seven majors between them, making Badosa’s choice not that surprising. But it does come after Tsitsipas said Badosa was his inspiration.
The Greek told the ATP that he stayed in Melbourne after he was eliminated in round one to support Badosa as she reached the last four and ended up learning from her.
“With her run, I thought, ‘If she can do it, why can’t I?’ That’s how I look at it,” Tsitsipas said on Badosa’s performance in Melbourne.
“It was inspiring to me to see her execute because it teaches me how to do things when I am in that position.”
The two-time major finalist has struggled with form lately, having not gone past the second round in his last three Grand Slams.
The downturn in results at majors also coincides with the firing of his father as his coach in August, something the 26-year-old recently admitted in an emotional interview was necessary.
“I’ve chosen to stop collaborating with my father this year because I saw a lot of things that were tiring to him,” the 11-time title winner told WTA star Caroline Garcia on the Tennis Insider Podcast.
“He was not anymore in the same energy levels as he used to be. Perhaps he was making mistakes more often than he normally was. And I was already thinking of that for years, actually.”
Without his father, Tsitsipas will have to rediscover the sort of form that once made him a world No.3 and a regular quarter-finalist at Slams if he is to compete at the highest level again.
Fourtnaley, the next major is on clay at the French Open — a surface that Tsitsipas enjoys and has achieved some of his best tennis on.
The Greek has reached the fourth round, two quarter-finals, a semi-final and a final in his last five appearances at Roland Garros, winning seven of his 11 career titles on clay.