Paula Badosa has struggled to play through the pain of a chronic back injury.
Paula Badosa has revealed that she is taking a break from tennis to recover from the chronic back problem which forced her to withdraw from the Miami Open. The 27-year-old won her first two matches in Florida but pulled out of her meeting with Alexandra Eala on Monday. She cited an aggravation of the long-term back injury which made her consider retirement last year.
Badosa had already withdrawn from Indian Wells and the Merida Open before pulling out of the Miami Open. She has since announced that she will not be competing at the Charleston Open, which is due to begin next week. Taking to Instagram, the Spaniard explained that she would be stepping away from the court for the duration of the recovery process.
She wrote on her story: “Hello everyone, as you know I had to withdraw from Miami and the upcoming tournaments. It’s very sad and tough to deal with the pain and especially stopping and coming back every single time. Now it’s time to go through recovery process again. Hopefully I will be back soon.”
Badosa is hoping to reach an acceptable level of fitness ahead of the clay-court season, which is just around the corner. It will be a race against time for the former Indian Wells champion, with just two months until the French Open gets underway.
She fractured two vertebrae in 2023, with the resulting period of inactivity leading to her slipping out of the world’s top 50. Badosa reflected on her injury struggles during this year’s Australian Open, where she was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.’
“Well, it was a stress fracture in my L4 and L5 that wasn’t recovering, and then the facet joints also like they were inflamed all the time so every time I was doing exercises, I had to stop because it wasn’t responding well,” she explained.
“When I thought about stopping was when I was doing the injections because they told me I had to do max three a year, and I was already in my second one, and it was the fourth month of the year, so I was quite playing in the limit with that.”
Badosa also recalled how things deteriorated further during the clay season in 2024, culminating in a first-round exit at her home event in Madrid.
“I think especially the clay-court season was pretty bad for me and also the back was still hurting, so in that moment I didn’t really know what to do,” she added.
“I also think especially after my home tournament in Madrid was very tough for me. A mix of back, mentally, and everything. In that moment, I was thinking maybe I’m not made for being back again.”