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Paula Badosa picked up the largest prize of her profession by triumphing towards Victoria Azarenka at Indian Wells on Sunday, within the newest signal that the Spaniard is lastly dwelling as much as comparisons with Russian icon Maria Sharapova.
Badosa battled previous two-time champion Azarenka in a three-set thriller within the Californian desert, prevailing 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 on the remaining WTA 1000 occasion of the season.
For the 23-year-old Spaniard, it was a second WTA crown of the 12 months – and of her senior profession – following a breakthrough win in Belgrade again in Could.
Success in Indian Wells means the big-hitting Badosa rises to a career-high world quantity 13 spot within the up to date rankings, having began the 12 months at quantity 70.
“The very first thing that I’ve realized this week is that nothing is not possible. In the event you combat, if you happen to work, in spite of everything these years, you possibly can obtain something,” mentioned Badosa after choosing up a cool $1.2 million in prize cash.
“That is the primary message that I see that might occur. And to dream. Typically you have got powerful moments.
“In my case, I’ve been via powerful moments. I by no means stopped dreaming. That’s what saved me working exhausting and believing till the final second.
“I am very completely satisfied what’s taking place. I’m just a little bit nonetheless in shock what occurred right now as a result of successful a match like this, it’s all the time been a dream.”
For Badosa, reaching the verge of the ladies’s prime 10 has been far more of a battle than some would have anticipated.
Born in New York to folks who labored within the style business, Badosa to Spain as a teen and grew up in Barcelona, additionally spending time coaching in Valencia after taking over tennis.
Tipped for large issues, the hype surrounding Badosa solely grew when she was topped French Open junior champion in 2015, beating Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya within the remaining.
After that success, Badosa brazenly said that Russian five-time Grand Slam queen Sharapova was amongst her idols, saying she “recognized just a little along with her additionally due to her method of taking part in.
“Mentally she is excellent, she is a born fighter… I feel she is a spectacular participant.”
The comparisons with Sharapova have been neither lengthy nor tough in coming: each gamers boast an aggressive, heavy-hitting on-court smile, each are photogenic figures who seize the attention off the court docket in addition to on it.
Badosa herself has commented on the comparisons, replying to a fan earlier this 12 months who mentioned it was “loopy” how comparable she seemed to Sharapova on court docket.
“Haha they are saying it loads. I want I may very well be as superb as her. However thanks anyway, it’s all the time a superb comparability,” mentioned Badosa modestly.
Outdoors of tennis, Badosa’s love life and relationship with Cuban mannequin Juan Betancourt has likewise made the form of headlines that pursued Sharapova and her issues of the center down the years.
However by the age of 23, Sharapova had already scooped three of her 5 Grand Slam titles; compared, Badosa’s path has been far much less clean.
The Spaniard has admitted that she struggled with the burden of expectation, contending with despair and psychological well being battles.
“Everybody thinks that I’d be a prime 10 participant at 18 years,” she has mentioned beforehand.
“However I used to be not ready or conscious both. Some unreal expectations got here up after which I misplaced. I needed to be on the sidelines to enhance and be completely satisfied.
“I used to be depressed and nervous. Then I seemed for [former coach] Xavier Budo, who modified my life.”
Badosa’s greatest efficiency at a Grand Slam so far was her run to the quarter-finals of the French Open this 12 months, whereas she additionally reached the identical stage on the Tokyo Olympics earlier than retiring towards Marketa Vondrousova because of the stifling warmth.
That occasion was symptomatic of the struggles Badosa has usually confronted, within the context of which her tears after seeing off Azarenka on Sunday appeared like a cathartic launch.
Her efficiency, in the meantime, was but extra testomony to Badosa’s rising confidence and the rising perception she will be able to obtain the massive issues many felt she was destined for.
It has not been a simple path, however we obtained the reward with exhausting work, ardour and religion. Don’t let anybody inform you can’t obtain one thing. If that occurs, show them fallacious. At present I fulfilled certainly one of my desires, taking part in the finals in one of many greatest occasions on the planet… pic.twitter.com/aEPJBCcrLA
— Paula Badosa (@paulabadosa) October 18, 2021
As for what comes subsequent, Badosa remains to be within the working for a spot on the season-ending WTA Finals in Guadalajara, boosted by the mammoth 1,000 factors she earned at Indian Wells, which strikes her into the quantity eight place with lower than a month earlier than the occasion will get underway.
Ought to she make it to Mexico, Badosa would possibly simply begin to really feel much more at house among the many ladies’s elite – a spot the place many tipped her to ultimately discover herself, similar to Sharapova earlier than her.
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