Badosa is examined in the heights

“Sometimes I see the final repeated, what I did that day against Azarenka, and I still wonder if that really happened.

I have to pinch myself…”

Since she defeated the Belarusian on October 18 in an extraordinary three-hour duel in Indian Wells, for many the best match of the entire past year on the women's circuit, Paula Badosa has lived a new reality, with all the good and bad that this entails.

Her fame and resonance have multiplied, the spotlights point to her as she dreamed of since she was a girl and she began to wield the racket, and her name is already among the most select on the list;

On the contrary, the 24-year-old Catalan has verified in the last five months what it means to be singled out and live on the roof of her sport, the place that has devoured so many tennis players as a result of vertigo and altitude sickness.

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That day, the exhibition was tremendous, becoming the first Spanish woman to tread the summit in the Coachella Valley, it was a radical turn for her.

The progressive ascent that it maintained became a qualitative leap, reinforced shortly after in Guadalajara (Mexico) with the outstanding role it had in the Masters Cup (semifinals) and entering the

of the WTA along with the strongest .

All this made her go from promise to reality, and from a comfortable background to the first line of fire.

That is to say, in tennis it is very different to step on a court as a favorite than to do it as an alternative, and she is now one of the players to beat.

This exponentially multiplies the pressure.

“There are no secrets, I must fight.

Of course, you have to have talent, but in my case I have to find that competitive level and not let the rest affect me too much”, he explained these days in the Californian desert, the great springboard of his career.

“It has radically changed my life.

I am still the same, but the environment has changed a lot, ”she explains to this newspaper.

“I just want to go game by game and enjoy competing.

The key is there, to enjoy each and every one of the points that I dispute.

That was what made me win here last year and what allowed me to win the games”, adds the Spaniard.

Currently, Badosa occupies the seventh step in the world

and became number four two weeks ago.

She closed out the last course of her throw and started this season like a shot, with the Sydney trophy under her arm, though she later lost a spark point.

The greening of Madison Keys separated her from the Australian Open in the round of 16 and she subsequently lost in the Dubai premiere (against Elena-Gabriela Ruse) and in the second round of Doha (Coco Gauff).

Something that tastes of too little for a tennis player with fabulous potential, surely the protagonist of one of the most striking climbs on the circuit in recent times.

Her rivals respect her, but they have also taken her license plate.

Her presence on the high ground is no longer surprising and her motivation to beat her has increased.

play without net

"I like everything about her," says the legendary Martina Navratilova in a statement offered to the WTA.

“I love her attitude, her mindset.

She is a very complete player, maybe 95% complete.

She maybe she can improve in the transition, by going to the net”, adds the winner of 18 singles majors;

“I am sure she is delighted to be back in Indian Wells so soon and she will be brimming with confidence.

Paula knows the track and confirmed her good time in Guadalajara”.

If in 2020 she officially asked for a runway and in 2021 she accelerated, this year is presented for her as the year of consolidation.

The reaffirmation.

Now he plays without a net, each defeat stings twice as much and the risk increases;

in fact, anything less than a good performance in the next few days would mean a significant loss of points and a drop in the ladder.

Emotional balance and control of the mind will be essential to try to defend the title in Indian Wells – only Navratilova did it, from 1990 (against Helena Suková) to 1991 (Monica Seles) – and achieve the dream of dreams: celebrating a Grand Slam.

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To do this, Badosa tries to waterproof itself.

He takes refuge day by day in his hard core, made up of his coach, Jorge García, his mother, Mireia Gisbert, and his boy, Juan Betancourt.

"It's very important to surround yourself with the right people," he says.

“And now I try to fool myself and tell myself that she won here in October, so I'm not fully defending the title.

That way there is not so much pressure…”, he says half jokingly half seriously, wanting to tackle the first date of this year in the tournament next morning, against the Czech Tereza Martincova (27 years old, 42nd in the world).

After an uninspired month, after an intimate documentary about her life was released (

, Movistar) and after signing with Iberdrola as the new ambassador for equality in sport, the Spaniard must straighten her course and recover the best tone to continue aboard the leading train and repeat the hit of October, when he surrendered to his admired Azarenka.

She will do it, in any case, knowing that she is being watched and with her name illuminated by neon.

Her new stage demands another twist.

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