A strong week in her Washington debut has wild card Paula Badosa on the verge of her first WTA title in more than two years.
The former World No.2 advanced to the Mubadala Citi DC Open final Saturday with an efficient 6-3, 6-3 win over Carolina Dolehide- Badosa’s latest triumph during a spring and summer surge that has her again feeling like her old self.
“For me, it's really emotional to be back in a final and to be fighting for titles,” said Badosa, who missed the final six months of 2023 with a back injury and struggled to regain her form early this year.
“The emotions are more that especially the beginning of the year, a year injured and everything, there were moments that were coming to my mind, ‘Am I going to be able to get back to the level I want to?’ That was tough for me because my back wasn't responding. Finally, it is. My body- I'm feeling now an athlete again.”
Badosa concedes that wasn’t the case as recently as a few months ago when, already back on Tour, she was still receiving injections to limit the pain.
“I wasn't seeing the light,” she revealed Saturday. “How am I going to keep continue like this?”
Finally in early May, her health and her game began to turn. A fourth-round run in Rome served as the springboard for a stretch that has now seen Badosa win 14 of her last 18 matches.
Along the way, she reached the second week at Wimbledon and now her first final since January 2022 (Sydney).
“I'm trying to value every moment,” she said. “Now it's a final, so I need to try to enjoy it because it's been a while with a lot of struggles. I will try to enjoy as much as I can.”
After spending two hours and 45 minutes on court Friday afternoon in a marathon quarterfinal win over Emma Raducanu, Badosa was more economical with her court time Saturday, needing just 81 minutes to beat Dolehide.
In both cases, Badosa maintained an aggressive approach, which she says she wanted to implement after Wimbledon.
Against Raducanu in the quarters, Badosa fired 45 winners. In the semis against Dolehide, Badosa won 24 of 27 points off her first serve and was never broken.
“I was like, ‘Look, in this US swing, I want to be aggressive in the important points,” she said. “If I lose it like that, it's going to be okay. So, it's a little bit the mentality. I wanted to change the mindset. This week it’s worked pretty well.”
Perhaps more importantly, Badosa said, that was her mindset when she in the Top 10.
“I want to get back to that,” she said.
