Paula Badosa almost quit tennis in 2024, now she’s in Australian Open semi-final

MELBOURNE – An emotional Paula Badosa reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final on Jan 21, then described how she almost quit tennis in 2024 because of a chronic back injury.

The Spanish 11th seed stunned world No. 3 Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-4 in the Australian Open quarter-finals, falling to the court in celebration as she became the first Spanish woman to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since Garbine Muguruza, also in Melbourne, in 2020.

“I’m a bit emotional,” said the 27-year-old, who will face two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka for a place in the final.

“I’m a very emotional person. I wanted to play my best game. I think I did it.

“I’m super proud of the level I gave today.”

It caps a remarkable comeback to tennis for the world No. 12, who was ranked well outside the top 100 a year ago after a stress fracture in her back.

“I mean, a year ago I was here with my back that I didn’t know if I had to retire from this sport,” said Badosa, who reached a career-high No. 2 in 2022.

She described some dark days during the 2024 clay-court season, when her inflamed lower back refused to respond to treatment.

“I thought about stopping when I was doing injections because they told me I had to do max three a year, and I was already on my second one in the fourth month of the year,” she said.

The condition did begin to ease and, after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon, Badosa started to find form.

She won in Washington, made the semi-finals in Cincinnati, quarter-finals at the US Open and finished with back-to-back semis at the China Open and Ningbo Open as she shot back up the rankings.

She will now jump back into the top 10 after Melbourne.

Badosa began aggressively against in-form third seed Gauff and had the American’s serve under pressure early in the first set.

The Spaniard broke at 5-5 and served out to take the opener in 56 minutes.

She then turned the screw in the second set, stretching out to 5-2 with a double break.

She did drop one service game as Gauff went for broke, but secured the match in one hour and 43 minutes.

It was her first win over a top-10 opponent at a Grand Slam in four attempts.

Gauff said she was “disappointed but not completely crushed” after her nine-match winning streak to start 2025 ended.

The 2023 US Open champion added that she was more mature now after playing in her eighth Grand Slam quarter-final and would not be beating herself up about the loss like she might have done earlier in her career.

“The way I played, even though it wasn’t my best, I gave it my all on the court, so that’s something to be proud of,” said the 20-year-old, who coughed up six double faults and 41 unforced errors.

“Some matches are going to go my way, some are not.

“Maybe a couple of years ago, I would feel a lot more crushed and feel like the world is ending-type sadness. But now I think it’s just disappointment that I could have done a little bit better in some areas.”

Also reaching the semi-finals is Sabalenka, who battled through “unbelievable” windy conditions to keep her dream of an Australian Open hat-trick alive.

The world No. 1 faces best friend Badosa after grinding past Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.

“The conditions were unbelievable,” said the Belarusian, who can become the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1999 to win the Australian Open three years in a row.

“The wind was so strong. It was very difficult for both of us.”

A select group of five women have completed the Melbourne three-peat. The others are Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.

“I’m really happy that I put myself in this situation where I have the opportunity to become one of them,” said Sabalenka. “To be next to those names, wow, that’s just a dream.”

Her 19th win in a row at Melbourne Park turned into a battle for survival in increasingly blustery conditions after taking the opening set in 31 minutes.

Pavlyuchenkova turned the match on its head in the second set as she began to extend the rallies and send the match into the decider.

Both players were struggling badly to keep the ball in court and the first four games went against serve.

In the eighth game, Sabalenka made the decisive move, breaking for 5-3 and going on to clinch the match in 1hr 53min. AFP, REUTERS