“He’s constantly blowing that back out” – Paula Badosa retires mid-match against Marta Kostyuk, fans blame boyfriend Stefanos Tsitsipas for her injury

Badosa retired mid - match against round 2 opponent Marta Kostyuk owing to back injury

“He’s constantly blowing that back out” – Paula Badosa retires mid-match against Marta Kostyuk, fans blame boyfriend Stefanos Tsitsipas for her injury

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa (Credits: Wimbledon)

Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa retired mid-match during her round two encounter against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk. Kostyuk was leading by a set and a break in the second set when Badosa took a medical timeout to treat her back pain. She ended up retiring from the match after that, giving the 21-year-old Ukrainian her first third-round appearance at Wimbledon.

Badosa has had to face a lot of adversity this year owing to injuries. She had to withdraw from the Australian Open and the French Open due to her back issues, which seem to have aggravated due to her participation at Wimbledon this year.

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Moreover, Badosa was set to compete in the mixed doubles category with boyfriend Stefanos Tsitsipas. Seeing her injury withdrawal from the singles tournament, however, that scenario does not seem likely.

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Also read: Frances Tiafoe recalls Serena Williams’ epic rant on Roger Federer that saw the American boast of her better Grand Slam titles tally

Twitter users blame Badosa’s relationship for her recurring back issues

Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa (Credits: Tennis Majors)

As expected, Twitter users were not too happy with Badosa’s withdrawal. They went on to point out that in her haste to attend Tsitsipas’ matches to support him, she lost crucial time in resting herself for upcoming matches.

Sharing a wide spectrum of interesting reactions, here’s what fans have to say:

https://twitter.com/zuurtje3/status/1677267915983159296
https://twitter.com/riverferns/status/1677272951895339009

Some users supported Badosa and her decision to retire from the match. They were of the opinion that no player should get criticized for listening to their body.

Badosa and her boyfriend Stefanos have been the talk of the tennis community lately for their so-far highly publicized relationship. The duo recently gave an interview in the lead-up to Wimbledon about their relationship and shared some anecdotes. Badosa also recounted a dream she had about Tsitsipas during the Australian Open, before the two began dating.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is a set down himself in his round 2 encounter against Britain’s Andy Murray, who is leading the Greek 2 sets to 1. Tsitsipas will have to dig very deep to come out on top against the Briton, who is in good form.

It is worth noting that Tsitsipas is at a slight disadvantage, with his first-round match against Dominic Thiem also having gone five sets. Andy Murray, on the other hand, eased through his first-round match against Ryan Peniston in straight sets.

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