Melbourne is a master’s degree for the tennis player, from wind to water and from autumn to desert summer in the blink of an eye. And this Sunday it is hot, very hot, around 33 dry degrees (24% humidity) which makes the task of rallying extremely difficult because the ball comes out like a shot and runs over and controlling it is quite a challenge. However, there Paula Badosa is smiling and rotating around herself, celebrating, classified for the first time for the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and for the third time on a big stage, after the experiences at Roland Garros (2021) and the US Open (2024); That is to say, the Spaniard is exactly where she wanted to be, in the hot zone of the tournament and facing the moment of truth. He momentumwhich is said in slang. The 6-1 and 7-6(2), in 1h 21m, guide you towards the cotton test. Ready for the jump?
“I must take it as just another day, as if it were a first or second round and not obsess over winning,” he repeats these days. “And today I played point by point,” she said after completing a wonderful exercise against Olga Danilovic, a real pain in the ass in the second set, clinging to the pulse with tooth and nail. However, this Badosa is reaching the right point of cooking, the temperature necessary to not lose temper or deviate unnecessarily, and thus face thorny situations such as the one proposed today by the Serbian (23 years old and 55th in the world) to raise a 5- 2 adverse and stand for the first time in her career in the Rod Laver Arena, territory still unexplored by her. The lioness inside her wants to come out, but for now she happily keeps her in the cage.
“Honestly, I didn’t recognize myself, because I looked very calm. Normally I am much more emotional, with ups and downs, but after watching the videos from the other day [dirigiéndose con nerviosismo a su técnico, Pol Toledo]”I thought I should behave a little and stay calm…” she jokes on the court, where she has applied what she and her coach focus so much on: defined plan A, yes, but a B or a C is essential to escape the flames. And so it happens, because Danilovic, left-handed the Balkan with all that that entails, an extra complexity, scrambles and responds with aggression and order, it is not easy to tame her. However, there is the reaction and the firm blow on the table, bam-bump!, which places Badosa back in the space of privilege.
She is the sixth Spaniard to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament. Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (seven times), Conchita Martínez (five), Virginia Ruano, Carla Suárez (three) and Garbiñe Muguruza (two) previously achieved it. On the rise, it is her turn, faced with a double test: making her debut in the center, without forgetting what happened in September at the US Open against Emma Navarro, nerves and more nerves in that New York morning, and against the American Coco Gauff, the third in the world. Balanced in the previous ones, three to three, the meeting also offers a double reading: difficult, yes, but necessary to continue building and evaluate if you are truly prepared for the greatest challenges, what you repeat and what you dream of so much: “ compete against the strongest.” Blessed commitment.
Regardless of what happens at headquarters on Tuesday, it appears to be heading in the right direction. Have you finally found the key, beyond victories and defeats? Today, now, present. Has the message penetrated that mischievous interior? “I don’t like to say this, but I am a warrior. I’ve been through a lot in my life, not just injuries, so it’s amazing to walk onto a track and get support from people. Now I’m starting to enjoy tennis and everyday life, what a career is,” he says. Virtually among the ten best, although the prize is still at the expense of what may happen from now on in the tournament, Badosa continues adding and getting closer to where she wants.
