Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa has a well-known and chronic back injury that took her out of the sport for over a year before she returned in 2024 and earned WTA Comeback Player of the Year.
Badosa, 27, recently opened up to Eurosport about how she lives and trains with the back injury that she believes will definitely shorten her playing career. She describes being in constant pain, relying on her doctors and injections that produce negative side effects, and trying to compete at the highest level in the midst of all of this. Badosa says the challenges are physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting.
Paula Badosa’s struggles highlight the fragility of being a professional athlete. The former World No. 2, French Open and US Open quarterfinalist, and Australian Open semifinalist was at the peak of her game in 2021-2022, which included winning Indian Wells in 2021.
By tennis standards, Badosa, who will turn 28 in November, is young. However, she knows that the injury will shorten her career. When that time comes, she also believes she will retire and be in the operating room the next day.
She considers her home tournament the Madrid Open, so it was especially disappointing that she had to withdraw in 2025. Fans hope that she can return as healthy as possible for the rest of the clay court season, a surface she loves to play on. Paula Badosa had a tremendous run at the 2024 Italian Open, defeating Mirra Andreeva, Emma Navarro, and Diana Shanider, before losing to Coco Gauff in the Round of 16.
Though fans would like to see more of her and boyfriend Stefanos Tsitipas playing mixed doubles together beyond the Eisenhower Cup exhibition at Indian Wells, the pair has to be cautious about doing so because of her back and preserving her health and energy for singles. She has also occasionally played mixed doubles with Ons Jabeur, who is an unfortunate kindred spirit in dealing with injuries in recent years.
