Badosa: Embracing the New Normal
<![CDATA[Paula Badosa shares her 2022 aspirations.]]>
Paula Badosa has an immediate plan for the offseason—turn off her phone—and has dialed up major ambition for next season.In the first all-Spanish semifinal in WTA Finals history, Garbine Muguruza beat Badosa 6-3, 6-3.Coach Ljubicic: Federer Unlikely to Play Australian OpenThe 24-year-old Badosa can look back on a breakout season that saw her capture titles in Belgrade and Indian Wells, score six Top 10 victories and qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals for the first time. Badosa rocketed up the rankings from a year-end rank of No. 70 in 2020 to a new career-high ranking of No. 8 in the live rankings.So what will she do for an encore?Badosa said she aims to improve her net play, sharpen her defense and strengthen herself mentally and physically ahead for the 2020 season knowing opponents will be targeting her."Maybe I want to go more to the net. I know I'm a very good baseline player, so maybe I want to do that kind of thing sometimes," Badosa said. "I don't know. I like to have a quite different things, different games. I like to be aggressive, but as well I want to be a good defensive player. I don't know, I have to work a little bit on everything."Mentally I have to do another step because it's not the same. To start the year 70 like last year, now to start the year 8, I will have a lot of expectations. Mentally it will be tough because every player will want to win me. I'll have to do another step forward on that. Of course, physically I have to improve a little bit more."
Badosa said she's learning to embrace a new normal in her career."It was like very new for me, all these situations, being on these rounds, playing in front of a lot of people," Badosa said. "Everything was really big at the beginning of the season, having these results."I think now I quite feel it's more like normal and I'm getting used to it. I think that will help me for next year as well if I want to do big things."Photo credit: Getty]]>
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