ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 6, 2024

Paula Badosa

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Paula, welcome back after a lengthy layoff with injury. Talk about how excited you are to return to tour and play here in Adelaide.

PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, I think I've never been more excited to come back to start the year. Normally I would say I could finish the year one month ago, but in this case it's been a lot of months, so really looking forward to playing here.

It's a tournament I always like to play, also, so yeah, very excited.

Q. On your WTA profile it says Born New York City, trains in Barcelona near hometown of Begur but lives in Dubai. That's a lot of places. Do you enjoy the travel aspect of tour life?

PAULA BADOSA: I think after that I think I'm a citizen of the world, right? I've been living in so many places, and also in Madrid, Barcelona, now in Dubai.

I think it's the way I was raised. Also my family was like that. Since the beginning they've been like travelers of the world, working in so many countries. I like to live like that, also. I enjoy meeting new people, new cultures. I grew up from that. I learned from that, and I like it.

Q. That upbringing, does that help you adapt to professional tour life? We have a lot of players complain that they don't like traveling but you're okay with it?

PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, in my case I think it helps a lot on adapting myself on different things, on different cultures, countries, also. Yeah, it doesn't bother me at all. I love it. I love to travel. I don't mind at all.

Q. What about playing at WTA 500 which is a huge event the week before a Grand Slam? What are the pros and cons of that?

PAULA BADOSA: The pros is that it's a 500 and that you get very top level matches already at the beginning of the season, and you get used to it before a Slam. The disadvantage is that you maybe don't have many days in a Slam to adapt on that place. But in my case I haven't played for so many months, so for me it's okay to play anywhere right now.

Q. Are you injury free at the moment?

PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, I'm injury free.

Q. When I was doing some research on you, it says that you play right-handed but you are naturally left-handed. Why don't you play left-handed?

PAULA BADOSA: It's a good question. I don't know. It's a big mistake, I think, right? I could be like Rafa, no?

I don't know why it was like that. I think it's just a coincidence.

Q. You've been to No. 2 in the world previously. Is there one tennis goal, one tennis ambition that you have? Is it to get back to that level to win a Slam --

PAULA BADOSA: Both. I think it's both. I want to get back to that level as soon as possible. I know it's going to be tough at the beginning. It's been a lot of months that I didn't play. Also I always wanted to win a Slam. It's one of my dreams, and it will always be until the day I retire.

Q. Would you give us a little insight into your back injury and how it restricted you, what physically you were able to do or not able to do during the recovery period?

PAULA BADOSA: Well, it was a very long injury. It was a very long process. It's an injury that you don't have much under your control because at the beginning I thought, oh, I do more hours of treatment, I do more hours of this or that and I'm going to heal faster. Then I learned that just having patience, trying to let it heal by their own.

But honestly it's a very slow -- I was going to say a bad word, but yeah, very slow process.

Honestly since maybe three, four weeks ago, I was like pain-free because until then I was playing maybe for one, two days but then I was feeling pain again, so it was a little bit like a roller coaster. It was a very tough process, especially mentally for me to accept all this.

As I always say, I love to play tennis. I love to compete. So all of a sudden one day I had to stop completely and started to have like a normal life -- not even a normal life. I had to stay on the couch, so imagine how boring was that.

But yeah, finally I'm injury free now. I'm very excited to start the season. Hopefully I'm healthy the entire year.

Q. During that period of recovery where you had to learn some patience --

PAULA BADOSA: Had no other option.

Q. Were you able to fill your time with anything in particular? Were there ways you overcame those challenges?

PAULA BADOSA: Well, of course I always had honestly a physio with me because it was very important to have it 24/7. That was very important for this injury to heal better and healthier, the bone, because it's a very delicate place.

Then I tried to have like a normal life that I was never used to having one and spending time with my people, with my family, enjoying a little bit myself. I missed competing a lot.

I think now maybe I will value a little bit more now being in every tournament, every match, every draw. Yeah, I'm really excited to be here again.

Q. On the Australian Open, any plans to play in the mixed doubles there?

PAULA BADOSA: Mixed doubles? I will have enough I think with my singles there.