“It somewhat hides everything,” Paula Badosa blames her national federation for causing the ‘SHOCKING’ downfall of Spain with a subtle Carlos Alcaraz reference

Paula Badosa doesn't hold back from criticizing the Spanish federation for damaging the setup to promote young players from the country.

“It somewhat hides everything,” Paula Badosa blames her national federation for causing the ‘SHOCKING’ downfall of Spain with a subtle Carlos Alcaraz reference

Paula Badosa and Carlos Alcaraz (Credits: WTA, ABC)

Paula Badosa‘s campaign at the 2024 Australian Open came to an end in the third round today. The Spaniard lost to Amanda Anisimova with the American clinching a 7-5, 6-4 victory. Badosa was returning from injury and a deep run was always going to be a problem given her long break on the sidelines.

Spain has been famous for having a big pool of players historically with many established champions coming from the country. But today’s Tour features very few players who are in the thick of things. While the ATP Tour does have seven Spanish players in the Top-100, the WTA Tour has only three Spanish women.

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Commenting on this, Badosa took a direct jibe at the Spanish federation for lack of grassroots work. She found the inactivity as the reason for less number of players on the professional circuit consistently fighting for the big titles.

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I would like to know the solution to see if I can help more players come out. I think there is still a lack of good grassroots work from the federation or something like that. That would also help because you see large federations such as the French, the Italian, the British, the Australian or the American, where players are emerging, but I think that in Spain that work could be done better.
said Badosa in the press conference.

Badosa went on to add that on her level she is indeed trying to understand what could be done to overcome this situation. She admitted her ambition of winning the BJK Cup for Spain will remain a distant dream in such a situation if a solution can’t be thought of. 

I really look back and it's hard to see. It's sad because one of my goals is to win a Billie Jean King Cup or qualifying rounds representing my country, but it's going to be complicated.
added Badosa in the press conference.

The World No. 100 will however add points to her tally as she was down with injury for the 2023 edition as well. Following her defeat, her press conference took an interesting turn with the player commenting on the rising injuries on the Tour, especially with the Spanish players.

Paula Badosa claims the Men’s Tour is also seeing Top-10 players struggle

One of the biggest criticisms the WTA Tour faces is a lack of consistency. The frequent exit of top seeds in the early rounds is often held against the women players. But Paula Badosa did not hold back from claiming that the ATP Tour since the Big-3 is no different.

Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa (Source: Tennis World USA)

With Roger Federer retired, and Rafael Nadal in potential farewell season, it is just Novak Djokovic who’s getting consistent results. Badosa called it a ‘covering act’ which is helping the federations hide and ignore the fact of lack of Spanish players on the Tour. 

“What Carlos and Rafa do cover up everything a bit, but the Big 3 also covered up everything. They always said that men's sport is much more regular, but now we see how tennis players from the Top 10 on the men's side fall in the first or second round. Luckily, by having Alcaraz, it's like with Rafa, it somewhat hides everything we have behind us, since there aren't that many Spanish players right now."
added Baodsa.

Badosa’s statements come in the wake of seeds like Holger Rune, Frances Tiafoe, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Lorenzo Musetti having already crashed out this year at the Australian Open. While the former World No. 2 has certainly made a bold call against her federation, it will be crucial to see if it backfires against her in the coming days or leads to improvement in the federation’s efforts.

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