Paula Badosa gives all credit to coach after her WTA Sydney Tennis Classic final win over Barbora Krejcikova!
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Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa has had a great 2021. She won her first WTA 1000 title at the Indian Wells, made her debut into the top 10 in the World Rankings and also made her debut at the year-end WTA finals tournament. The Spaniard finished the last year as the World No. 8. Due to her amazing rise, the Spaniard was widely considered as the most improved player on the WTA tour in 2021.
The Spaniard has started the new season the same way she left the previous one, winning the WTA Sydney Tennis Classic title in a stunning fashion on Saturday against World No.4 Barbora Krejcikova. It was a hard-fought match, going to 3 sets and eventually a tiebreaker that ended 4-7.
Krejcikova took her first set against Badosa. She nearly emulated her comeback win over Anett Kontaveit from Friday’s semifinals, where she prevailed in a third-set tiebreak after saving seven match points. However, the World No.9 refused to let Krejcikova repeat that feat, keeping her undefeated record against reigning Roland Garros champion Krejcikova alive.
Badosa reflects on various aspects post the match
In the post-match interview, Paula Badosa reflected on her tournament win and changes in her mindset over the past year. The Spaniard said that she was especially pleased to win games on titles on Hardcourt as according to her it is the surface she’s comparatively the least comfortable in among the others. She revealed how it was mentally tough in the beginning to play on hardcourts despite success elsewhere.
The World No.9 also reflected on how her coach especially helped her in adjusting to the faster Australian courts. The Spaniard revealed that the biggest mindset change that she had to become successful on this surface was to accept that she’ll miss the ball sometimes on court and to be able to mentally cope up with that.
“I’m really happy about that. For me, it’s very special to win tournaments on hard court, because maybe I was playing very well on clay and was maybe being more with power but more spin, trying to play with more spin.”
“So for me, this change, it was tough mentally at the beginning. And even I think I was starting to do that in Ostrava, and then in Indian Wells it went very well but it was different courts. I think here in Australia the courts are faster, so that change was a little bit tough for me. We were talking about that. But I think my coach helped me a lot on this big change, because one of the things that I have to improve a little bit is to accept that I have to miss, and sometimes I don’t want to miss, so that’s a little bit the battle that I have mentally. But I’m really happy that I’m starting to do it and that I’m winning tournaments and amazing players and in these kind of courts that they are maybe not the ones that I feel more comfortable,” said Badosa.
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Akash Mandal
(433 Articles Published)