“3 weeks ago I was in a sofa… For the first time I was able to play 8 days in a row”: Paula Badosa 'proud' of her progress despite Miami Open 2R exit

Paula Badosa exited the Miami Open 2024 after suffering a loss at the hands of her best friend and World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in a second-round show on Saturday, March 23.

Badosa took the court against Sabalenka on the back of a convincing win over Simona Halep in the first round at the Miami Gardens but failed to break the Belarusian's defense. She could not create any break-point opportunities in the first set and conceded a lead to begin with.

In the second set, Badosa came close to breaking Sabalenka once but the latter kept her at bay and clinched a 6-4, 6-3 win. This failure notably took her overall loss tally for the 2024 season to six in 11 matches.

One of the losses was a result of Badosa not being able to finish her match against Lulu Sun at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February owing to a back injury persistent since May 2023. Also, she was forced to pull her name from contention at Doha and Indian Wells.

After the Miami loss, however, the Spaniard voiced faith in her steady progress that has taken her from lying at home to now being able to consistently sweat it out on the court.

"3 weeks ago I was in a sofa without knowing when I would be able to play again, after that for the first time I was able to play during 8 days in a row since almost a year. I'm happy and proud of it. I know my level is far but the fact that I'm on a court, it's a win. Step by step," Paula Badosa wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

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"Special thank you to Pol Toledo Bague for being next to me at my toughest moments" - Paula Badosa extends her gratitude to coach

Paula Badosa

In another tweet on X, Paula Badosa extended her gratitude to her coach Pol Toledo Bague for his constant support.

"Special thank you to this person @PolToledoBague for being next to me at my toughest moments and helping me every day. We will make it," Badosa wrote.

Toledo Bague responded to Badosa's remark, claiming that her relishing the on-court nuances once again is already a reward for him.

"Seeing that you can go back to enjoying your day to day life is a reward and it is the one that makes it easy to reach where you deserve to be," Toledo Bague wrote.

Paula Badosa is next scheduled to compete at the Charleston Open 2024.