In the life of Paula Badosa, outward appearances have not always told the full story. When the Spaniard won the French Open girls’ singles in 2015, she seemed to have the world at her feet. But predictions of superstardom and comparisons with Maria Sharapova and Garbiñe Muguruza placed intolerable pressures on the 18-year-old. To the outside world, she was the new golden girl of tennis; below the surface, she was anything but. As a sequence of injuries took hold and she was overtaken in the rankings by her contemporaries, Badosa fell into a downward spiral of anxiety and depression. She would be 21 before she emerged.
Three years on, appearance and reality have converged. Badosa has played both her matches at this year’s Australian Open with strapping on her thigh and shoulder, and if that lends her the mien of a battle-worn gladiator, it’s because she is. With her 6-3, 6-0 victory over Italy’s Laura Trevisan, a qualifier ranked 111th, the 24-year-old notched up her seventh win in 10 days following her victory at last week’s Sydney International.
After breaking fresh ground last season, when she made the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, won the biggest title of her career in Indian Wells, and marked her WTA Finals debut with a run to the last four, Badosa has risen from 70th in the world to a career-high sixth. At this point, injury would seem to be the greatest threat to her progress at Melbourne Park, where she is seeded to meet Barbora Krejcikova – her victim in the Sydney final – in the last eight.
“For the moment I can’t complain,” said Badosa, who will play 19-year-old Marta Kostyuk on Friday, when asked whether she thought fatigue might catch up with her at the business end of the tournament.
“It’s going quite well on that. I have that day off [before playing Kostyuk]. If I have to be honest, on that day off I’m not doing anything. I’m touching the racquet 10 minutes per day. It’s how I have to do it, because I was quite tired.
“But the matches are going quite well, quite fast. The fatigue I’m recovering as much as I can, so I’m quite happy on that. I have a next match that’s quite tricky as well. It will be a tough one. I have almost two days to recover, so that’s very good. I think I will be at 100%.”
She will need to be. Kostyuk, another player who knows what it is to taste junior grand slam success only to be undone by injury and the weight of expectation, has wins over Muguruza, Krejcikova and Daria Kasatkina to her name. Remarkably, it is five years since the 66th-ranked Ukrainian won the junior title at Melbourne Park, and four since she reached the third round of the main draw, the youngest player since 1997 to reach that stage at a slam. Kostyuk beat Badosa’s compatriot Sara Sorribes Tormo, the 32nd seed, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
“We’ve been friends since a long time ago,” said Badosa, “a few years. I’ve been following Marta a lot. I really respect her. She’s a very talented player. When they ask me who can be the next star, I always say Marta. She has a lot of potential.
“She’s always a dangerous player. I will have to play my best, because I know she likes these kind of matches and she will play her best.”
Sink or swim, Badosa has already had an infinitely better Australian Open than she endured last year, when she was thrust into quarantine after someone on her flight to Melbourne tested positive for Covid, and then contracted the virus herself after a week in a hotel room. She emerged three weeks later, stressed and underprepared, and promptly went out to Russian qualifier Liudmila Samsonova in the first round.
“One year ago I was locked in a room,” Badosa recalled. “So being here and playing centre court, because of me, not because I’m playing a seeded player – because now I’m the seeded player – I’m really happy and proud of myself.”
Badosa has an unblemished career record over Krejcikova, her potential quarter-final opponent, who eased past China’s Wang Xiyu 6-2, 6-3. And with Naomi Osaka on course for a fourth-round collision with Ashleigh Barty – Osaka, the defending champion, beat Madison Brengle 6-4, 6-0 on Wednesday while top seed Barty swept aside Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-1 – she will be a genuine contender to come through the top half of the draw.
“To play as a favourite, it’s never easy,” said Badosa. “Of course I’m nervous, I’m not going to lie. I have pressure. I try to deal it as much as I can. I try to focus on what I have to do every single point. That’s what I’m doing at the moment. There’s no secret key. I’m just going day by day, and dealing with the pressure.”