Paula Badosa bursts into Top 5 of the WTA rankings and achieved THIS incredible feat in the process

Paula Badosa had a great 2021, being voted as the most improved sportsperson of 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.

This year too, despite her rather disappointing Australian Open 2022 campaign where she exited in the 4th round, the 24-year-old has already won her first title of the new season, clinching the WTA Adelaide International 2022.

Badosa enters the top 5 to achieve rare feat

After clinching the WTA Sydney International against a higher-ranked Barbora Krejcikova in a thrilling final, and then following it up with a not disastrous Australian Open campaign, Paula Badosa has risen a spot from 6^th to 5^th in the world rankings, subsequently making her debut in the Top 5.

With this, she entered a rare collection of players, becoming only the 4^th Spanish player to enter the top 5 World rankings after Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Conchita Martinez, and Garbine Muguruza. That is not a bad company, since each one of them is a legend of Spanish tennis.

The rise came at the expense of Iga Swiatek, who drastically dropped from 4^th to 8^th in the World Rankings. Going into last year’s clay-court season, Badosa had never even been ranked higher than No. 67 at any point in her career. But she’s gone 45-14 since then, a stretch highlighted by her first three WTA titles (including Indian Wells last October) and her first Grand Slam quarterfinal (at Roland Garros last June).

One more Spanish woman, Carla Suarez Navarro, has reached the Top 10, and almost the Top 5—the seven-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist went as high as No. 6 in 2016.

Fans react to Badosa’s impressive feat

As Paula Badosa finally cracked the top 5 of the World rankings, fans took to Twitter to share their views.

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