Paula Badosa hits hard: "Talking about fears is important"

It is Friday, noon in Madrid, and the crowd of cars has swallowed up the one that transports Paula Badosa to a central photographic studio in the capital. "I am so sorry! There is a crazy traffic jam…”, the tennis player apologizes, all day here and there and whose agenda has not granted her a single truce since last October 18 she entered directly into the history of her sport by becoming the first woman Spanish that has conquered Indian Wells, one of the most distinguished terrains of the racket. That afternoon, under the Californian desert sun, she defeated the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka —former number 1, two Grand Slams on her record— and culminated an extraordinary sporting and personal comeback. Because today everyone is a light for her: she is among the 10 best in the world, she has already played in the Masters Cup,The sponsors raffle it off and the future looks golden. But behind is hell. Before, everything was very fast. Too much.

With an extraordinary talent, at the age of 15 he achieved his first point in the professional circuit. One later, while still a junior, she was summoned by Conchita Martínez to compete with the seniors in the Federation Cup. And at 17, while his career was skyrocketing, he was crowned a junior at Roland Garros. Specialists quickly introduced her as “the new Sharapova”. “It was a mental boom and I wasn't ready to handle it. They filled my head with stories and I deflated. I fell apart and lost myself. I didn't know how to get out of there. It was a hole. I did not have a good environment and I faced all that alone. Now everything is different, but I had a very bad time. Really bad. Looking at it in perspective, I think that this whole process made me stronger”, he says serenely in a speech that is increasingly normalized among athletes, but then,when she decided to open up (January 2020) and confess that she had suffered from depression for two years, she was surrounded by stigmas, prejudices and taboos.

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During the conversation he will go deeper, but before that he rewinds to how he landed in tennis. "Pure coincidence." The daughter of Mireia and Josep, two models who settled in New York in the early nineties, Badosa was born in Manhattan and lived there until she was seven years old. However, in 1997 her parents decided to return home. “It was a radical turnaround. They were working all day, so they had to do something with me and they sent me with my cousins ​​to a summer campus where they did swimming, soccer, tennis... It was from nine in the morning to six in the afternoon, with regular hours. from school The first sport that touched me was tennis, and that's where I stayed. I didn't go to the next ones," he says. "Immediately it was seen that he had something special, since he started going to school," his mother adds by phone. “Paula had that something, she shone. She fell in love with everyone since she was a child;She had that charisma that made her different. And in tennis he also stood out very quickly. She was very focused, she was super involved in the classes. And it flowed. Marcelo, his first coach, was a crack. There were days when it was impossible to get her off the track; if it had been up to her, she would have stayed the night. She looked like a professional from a young age.”

"I would like to be remembered as someone who always gave everything," says tennis player Paula Badosa, currently number 8 in world women's tennis. In the photo, she is wearing a Dolce & Gabbana swimsuit. Nico Bustos

Mireia Gibert says that the sacrifice so that her daughter could develop as a tennis player and reach the elite was very great, but that they immediately perceived something different. He relates that when Badosa competed in tournaments in Catalonia and in the Benjamins of France, he was already attracting attention, so they saw it clearly. "But not because he won, because he was bigger than the others and it was a bit difficult for him to move, but because of how he competed and how he hit the ball," he says. And her coach specifies from Melbourne, where she will fight this month at the Australian Open, already as one of the highlights of the circuit: “She has always been a girl with her ears wide open, a

cream.

He works hard and knows how to listen.

She always tried”, transmits Jorge García, who molded her from the ages of 14 to 18 in Valencia.

He currently occupies his bench after Xavier Budó (in Barcelona) and Javier Martí (Madrid) participated in the process.

Throughout the session, Badosa, 1.80 tall, poses with self-confidence.

It's in the genes.

She feels more than comfortable in front of the camera.

“When they had me, my parents continued in fashion, but they dedicated themselves to photography sessions”, clarifies the number 6 in the world, who started the last year in 71st position, finished as eighth and now, after winning the trophy of Sydney, looks its best

.

“I remember being in many

five or six years old.

They left me there all day and I loved it: I took the cameras and the spotlights, I went from here to there touching everything... It was the place where my family wanted me to be, before I picked up the racket, of course.

My mother took me to a modeling agency one day, but I flatly refused.

I wasn't cut out for that!

Maybe because I lived it for a long time and also because I was shy.

With tennis it was totally different;

The first day I picked up the racket I said to myself: 'This is what I want!'” he continues.

The tennis player, who has done a huge workout in the gym, in a pleated dress over an elastic jumpsuit with pearls by Christian Dior.Nico Bustos

His mother says that he used it for some of his reports and that he used to take it to the Burning Man festival, in the Nevada desert, where he had a great time between portraits. Then came the return to Begur, on the Costa Brava, where the teenage Badosa grew up with her younger sister, Jana. “She is very much from her land, she is in love with the Empordà”, continues Gibert. “Whenever I can, I escape there to catch my breath,” she adds, who in some way always opted for choosing different routes. “I have wanted to stand out for doing something different, and in that sense I have always been a little special, or rare, in quotes. If I could do something different from my friends or colleagues on the circuit, I did it. I have dared to do things that perhaps others did not dare. For example, I always play with a knot at the back, on the shirt. It's a simple detailbut the details distinguish you”, he continues before delving into the thorny episode of depression. Of that fall into the void that was about to make her give up.

Badosa emphasizes that, despite her shyness, she is an expressive girl and that she regrets not having spoken before. “I locked myself in a lot, but in the end I did it and I think it has helped. Talking about fears is important. There are certain ages when you think you know everything and it's not like that, you lack humility. Now many athletes are doing it and, fortunately, it seems that little by little it is normalizing. It must be normal! But not only in sport, but in life. Always," he introduces. “There are two Paulas: the self-destructive one, who was affected by everything, and the other, who continues to have her fears, but who tries to move them forward and fights. I'm still a perfectionist, and that, sometimes, is more negative than positive, but yes, now I try to be better with myself. I keep giving myself cane, but I treat myself better. Sometimes you wonder:'What if I've reached my limit? What if I'm not doing so well anymore?' It is logical. It's about knowing how to handle it," he continues.

On June 6, 2015, paradoxically, success meant that the box of thunder was opened. When his name was already on everyone's lips and not a few agents and multinationals were rubbing their hands, he triumphed at the junior Roland Garros —double 6-3 over the Russian Anna Kalinskaya in the final— and then came the expectations, always treacherous , and the dark company of vertigo. Immediately, the Secretary of State for Sports, with the then president Miguel Cardenal at the head, interceded so that Badosa (double passport) chose to play for Spain and not accept the temptation of the United States, which saw in her a gold mine already a potential figure. The Football League was even used to tie him up, in the form of a financial agreement dressed as a three-year sponsorship.

"When you hit the ball you feel power," says the tennis player. In the image, Paula Badosa poses in a Dolce & Gabbana swimsuit. Nico Busts

There the takeoff, then the abyss. And finally, the confession. “There were very hard, very hard, very hard moments. But she decided to tell, by her own decision, and we support her. I try to guide her, but Paula decides her way. Crises are part of the evolution of every athlete and young people have to stumble during their personal growth”, says his mother. “It was a big bump, but bumps are part of a natural process in sport. Paula has a lot of momentum, what happens is that now she controls it much better; It was a bit out of control then, but now it's different. In essence, it remains the same as always, but it has found a balance. He plays with more stability and decides better”, adds his coach. "The important thing is that now he knows how to identify very well where he is and overcome difficulties",expands another person in her circle, who in turn describes her as a visceral woman.

She, meanwhile, points out that tennis is an "addictive and relentless" sport - she advanced several days this preseason, after just a week and a half without rallying - that constantly puts her to the test and requires her to manage failure and pressure.

“Some defeats make me more angry than others, they hurt me and I suffer them all, but I try not to take it out on the rest of the people.

I am maturing and I have always been a girl who likes to analyze, get to the why, and in tennis more.

We are ultra-competitive,” he explains.

“From the outset, you have to psych yourself up that almost every week you are going to lose.

Even Nadal loses every week!

In a big year you can win five or six tournaments, at most;

I, in fact, have had a great year and there have been two”.

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Unlike others and others, as a child I didn't watch anything about tennis, and I didn't even know how the score was going. “They had to teach me everything, from scratch”, he specifies, “but when I picked up the racket for the first time I felt something different. When you hit the ball you feel power." In her quinceañera room hung several posters of Maria Sharapova, blonde and tall like her. Like the Russian – along with Serena Williams, the player with the greatest media impact in modern times – Badosa plays with a visor, wears a pendant in matches, wears Nike clothing and competes with an increasingly fierce spirit . “I loved his mentality, he never gave up. In that sense, he reminded me of Nadal, and one day I want to pass on the same example."She exposes while removing the right sleeve of the sweater and shows goosebumps as she is told that now the one many girls observe and imitate is her.

The Catalan, she emphasizes, does not play just to entertain. You want to transcend. “My goal is to win, but since I was little I wanted that, whatever I did, they would remember me for something. I would like to be remembered as someone who always gave everything. If I can help, inspire or leave a mark, I'm welcome. When I saw a different athlete, I wanted to be like that. And now I am in this place”, she continues, knowing that today she is in the shop window and that she has joined other athletes who are gradually becoming references, when until recently the mirrors were exclusively male: “It was necessary. There are Alexia [Putellas, winner of the Ballon d'Or 2021], Garbiñe [Muguruza, champion of Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Masters Cup] and many others. I think we are seeing more and more powerful women,and that is fundamental inside and outside the sport”.

"I try to follow in Garbiñe's footsteps," he says. In the image, she is wearing a silk dress by Nili Lotan at Yoox.com.Nico Bustos

Today, the artist Bad Bunny heads his playlist and music —Shakira's profile stands out, "because it transmits a lot and has a lot of inner strength"— is an essential element as it travels the globe from one side to the other. He also distances himself from superstitions: "I prefer not to impose things on myself, because everything is very changeable and in the end you can destabilize yourself." Throughout the talk, he marks the gestures with his left hand because it is left-handed closed. On the court, however, he hits the ball with his right. “But by chance. When I started playing I had little strength, and when I got tired of playing with one, I switched to the other and I was good with both. One day my coach told me that I had to decide, and it turned out that I could handle fatigue better with my right, so I started playing like that”.

The year 2021 has marked a turning point. Not only has it shone, but it has finally been recognized. "Now I'm a real tennis player," she celebrates, methodical in training routines - her physical day starts at eight in the morning and lasts until three in the afternoon, with some evening extras - and meticulous with food, supervised by his nutritionist and psychologist, Daniel de la Serna. She won her first trophy on the WTA circuit, in Belgrade; she climbed to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, and reached the semifinals of Madrid, Lyon or Charleston, where she defeated the number 1, the Australian Ashleigh Barty. The autumn ball from Indian Wells led her directly to the Guadalajara Masters, among the eight best of the course,and in addition to receiving the praise of the historical Martina Navratilova —”we agreed with her and she told us that it was

”, intercedes her mother, starred in a stellar duel against Muguruza (the final winner) in the penultimate round.

“If we can mark an era?

Sure, and why not?”, he replies when he is asked the parallels with the duo that Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario and Conchita Martínez once formed.

“I try to follow in Garbiñe's footsteps, because in the end she has won what I would like to win, but good times are coming and we are doing beautiful things.

We have a style of play that can hook people.

We have lived a lot of Rafa and there will come a day when he will no longer be there”.

From a distance, Jorge García, his coach, does the dissection: “I wouldn't highlight one shot over another, because it's very powerful on both sides. He has a great forehand, but also a great backhand. He shoots very hard from both sides and has weapons to deal damage on all surfaces. He has no holes, he must be calm. If it continues like this, it will be very high. I have always said that it has no ceiling”. And Carla Suárez abounds in the analysis, who after 18 years on the tour has hung up her racket and who enjoyed experiences and breakfasts with the Catalan —”double ration, because we got up too early due to

…”— during the Tokyo Olympics.

“This year has evolved a lot.

He has undergone an important physical change and, above all, a mental turn: he dares to do those things that he had inside and knows how to better control key moments”, emphasizes the Canarian, with whom he shares a fun WhatsApp group that is completed by the Valencian Sara Sorribes .

Meanwhile, the fan (close to half a million followers on Instagram) and the experts are following her closely.

After the first chime, it's time to go further.

And she goes with everything: “I have always been a dreamer.

I go to sleep and wake up every day thinking that one day I will win a Grand Slam.”

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