Paula Badosa breaks silence after fans accuse her of ‘racist’ gesture with chopsticks

Paula Badosa apologized to the fans after they accused her of mocking Aisan people in an Instagram post following her China Open exit.

Paula Badosa breaks silence after fans accuse her of ‘racist’ gesture with chopsticks

Paula Badosa (Image via X)

Paula Badosa has been dealing with severe backlash from tennis fans after her coach, Pol Toledo, posted a series of pictures of her on his Instagram following Badosa’s China Open exit. He deleted the post later.

In one of the pictures, Badosa could be seen pulling back her eyelids with her chopsticks. Fans thought that World No. 15 was imitating Asian people and slammed her for ‘racism’. The Spaniard explained herself in the comment section, saying she was rather playing with her face.

YouTube video

Oh no please don’t get it that way. Never thought it would get interpreted this way we weren’t even imitating asian people. I was playing around with my face and wrinkles. I love Asia one of my favorite and have plenty of asian friends. They are the kindest.

Paula Badosa wrote on Instagram

But fans were just not ready to believe that she was playing with her wrinkles with the chopsticks. Badosa, in her latest post on X, apologized for her act, but once again admitted that she really had no idea that the gesture was offensive.

Hey guys! Really sorry didn’t know this was offensive towards racism. My mistake. I take full responsibility. This mistakes will make me learn for next time. Hope you understand…. I love you all.

Paula Badosa wrote on X 

Check out her post here:

Paula Badosa will kick-start her campaign at the Wuhan Open against Ajla Tomljanovic

Paula Badosa reached the semifinals in Beijing, where eventual champion Coco Gauff defeated her in three sets. She is still in China for the Wuhan Open and will be playing her opening match on Tuesday (October 8) against 86th-ranked Ajla Tomljanovic.

Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa (Image via X)

Badosa has met Tomljanovic thrice on the WTA Tour and has taken a 2-1 lead in their head-to-head meetings. All three encounters were in 2022 (in Sydney, Melbourne, and Cincinnati). Tomljanovic won their last meeting in Cincinnati in three sets.

Badosa is still in search of her second title of the season after winning the Citi Open by beating Marie Bouzkova in the final. She is 34/ 17 on the season and even though she struggled earlier this year due to her constant battle with back problems, she has been able to make deep runs in the recent tournaments.

Badosa has still not completely recovered from the back injury and has admitted in an interview that she has been taking cortisone injections to continue playing.