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Paula Badosa faced an awkward situation after a tennis journalist congratulated her on her win, despite the Spaniard withdrawing from Wimbledon due to an injury.
The Spanish tennis professional returned to action at Wimbledon after suffering from an injury. She even missed the 2023 French Open due to a spinal stress fracture. Prior to Wimbledon, Badosa last played in the Italian Open quarterfinals.
Returning from her injury, the Spaniard played well to kick off her Wimbledon campaign with a convincing, 6-3, 6-3 win over American Alison Riske-Amritraj. Up against Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk in the second round, the former World No. 2 was a set down and trailing by 1-0 when she was forced to retire midmatch due to an injury.
Speaking to the media in the post-match press conference, a journalist congratulated Badosa on her win, to which she replied that she lost. Soon after, tennis fans reacted to such an incident happening at Wimbledon, one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world.
Tennis Podcast tweeted, pointing out the absurdity of the journalist's question.
"Hello, I see you have an injury, would you like some insult to go with that?"
Another fan questioned the standard of the journalists' permitted in the press conference.
"They just give out press passes to anyone huh? Might try to get one next year, I could make a better job since I actually like and watch tennis."
Fans continued to say that it was very unprofessional and unnecessary of the interviewer.
"This was extremely unprofessional and unnecessary.....and you guys wondered why Naomi didn't want to deal with these clowns."
Another fan said that tennis journalists do not watch any matches.
"Proof that journalists do not watch matches."
Below are a few more fan reactions:
Wimbledon 2023: Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas withdraw from Wimbledon's mixed doubles event
Paula Badosa's injury also forces her to withdraw from the mixed doubles event, where she was supposed to partner Stefanos Tsitsipas to take on top seed Jessica Pegula and Austin Krajicek in the first round.
Badosa and Tsitsipas recently started dating, and since then they have posted numerous pictures and videos of them together. The Greek even trained with Badosa ahead of his title defense in Mallorca. They also trained together at Wimbledon.
During Tsitipas' match against Andy Murray, Paula Badosa was in the stands, cheering for her boyfriend. The couple also has a joint Instagram account, where they often post pictures.
