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Paula Badosa rose to a career-high ranking of No. 2 on Monday following a string of consistent results over the past year. Her run to the semifinals in Stuttgart, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets, confirmed her rise to the second spot in the WTA rankings.
The Spaniard leapfrogged an injury-stricken Barbora Krejcikova into the second spot and is a little over 2000 points away from top-ranked Iga Swiatek, who won her fourth straight WTA title in Stuttgart. Badosa also became just the fourth woman from her country to reach the No. 2 spot, following in the footsteps of Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Conchita Martinez and Garbine Muguruza.
In a recent Instagram post, Paula Badosa reflected on her journey to the top, emphasizing that she was "living her dream". Accompanying the post were a couple of snapshots from her childhood.
"Never has a Monday felt so good," Badosa wrote on Instagram. "Happy for the road travelled and overcome. It's taken a lot but in the end, it was all worth it. Grateful to be living my dream. Ps: I don't usually post rankings but this one I was especially looking forward to."
Badosa shot into the spotlight when she reached the semifinals in Madrid last year as an unseeded player before bagging her maiden WTA title in Belgrade. Later that season, the 24-year-old scripted a stunning run to the title at the WTA 1000 event at Indian Wells for the biggest trophy of her career.
She claimed a third WTA trophy in Sydney earlier this year and boosted her chances of cracking the top 2 with quarter-final appearances at Indian Wells and Miami.
"It's a very mental game, but I'm happy I'm getting through it" - Paula Badosa
In an interview with WTA Insider after sealing the No. 2 ranking, Paula Badosa highlighted how she was earnestly working towards reaching the top. She shed light on the undying pressures of the sport and stated she was pleased with how she was able to avoid mental lapses during most of her matches.
"It was a goal and I really wanted to be in that position," the Spaniard said. "For me, it's a dream come true so I was really going after it. So I'm really happy that I could leave that mental block out of the match and play pretty well. There's so much pressure on you and at the end of the day, you're all alone on the court. It's a very mental game. But I'm happy I'm getting through it."
Badosa will be in action at the 2022 Madrid Open, which begins on 28 April.
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