US OPEN

September 3, 2024

Paula Badosa

Press Conference

E. NAVARRO/P. Badosa

6-2, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Paula, if you could, your thoughts on the match.

PAULA BADOSA: Well, I'm very disappointed with my level today. I think she played really good and she managed the situation really well, and I was completely disaster.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. In your mind, what changed the momentum from when I guess you were up 5-1 and then...

PAULA BADOSA: I never had the momentum in this match. I played four or five games okay. It was 5-1, but I never felt myself in the court. I didn't feel serving well, playing well from the baseline. That's my biggest strength.

So I think today it surprised me because I was playing pretty good the other matches, I was feeling good. But when I walked into the court, I think I didn't match well the situation or the emotions.

It was a bit hard to handle for me. I wanted to win so much that sometimes that doesn't help at all.

Q. You just said you were a disaster or something like that. Do you mean the way you were playing or the way you sort of mentally reacted?

PAULA BADOSA: Everything. Everything. This is the first time it happens to me in my career. I think losing a set from 5-1 up, I never did that before. So I think there is always a first time for something, so it had to come today unfortunately.

I don't know. I still need to think what happened, because I had two service games there also. I started to miss. I lost, I don't know, 20 points almost in a row. It's very weird for me because I'm quite a consistent player, so I wasn't expecting that either.

So I'm quite disappointed.

Q. A tough question to ask a player after a loss, but could you talk about Emma and her game, what makes her strong and why she's had this run here.

PAULA BADOSA: She's a very complete player, first of all, and that's very important when you go to a slam to put your emotions on the side. That's maybe the thing that sometimes I don't handle pretty well.

She does that really well. Then she's very talented. Very good backhand and very good forehand. She has variety in her game, so that's really important, and she's a great player. So congrats to her.

Q. Did you feel normal, I guess, this morning when you woke up, or warming up, everything, the way it's felt in the past few days? You said it was your first time obviously on Ashe. I don't know if stepping out there kind of reminded you of the occasion or something.

PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, I was great in the morning. I just stepped on the court, and I felt weird. I was surprised on myself, because normally I like to play these things, but I think it's not the court. It was more the round for me, you know, and seeing myself sometimes so close, so far but so close at the same time, and with a good level, your mind is very tough to stay in the present, you know. I think my mind was everywhere except in the present.

It's something I have been working and I've been improving so much, but it's something that also hurt me so much in my career, you know. Sometimes wanting it so much and thinking ahead of it, and sometimes I can't even focus in that moment. And I think today was a little bit that.

Q. With how successful you have been this summer leading up to this result, do you think with some distance you'll be able to look back on the totality of the last few weeks and say this was maybe not as much of a disaster as...

PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, now I say it's a disaster, but when I started in Washington I would sign all the results, for sure. And coming from where I'm coming from, look, I have to be happy. I don't know. Maybe I'm 15 in the race, so I wasn't expecting that a few months ago. So on that, I'm really proud of myself.

The thing that for me makes me the way I am today, it's a slam and, you know, your dream is always to make last rounds in a slam. Performing the way I performed today, I know that if it wasn't a slam I would perform well. So that's what's a little bit why I'm like this today, you know. Because I didn't know how to handle it the best way.

Now I have to wait four months for the next slam, so it sucks (smiling).

Q. Wondered if you're the kind of person who will sort of think about what happened today and why you weren't able to perform, or just try and put it out of your mind and forget about it?

PAULA BADOSA: No, I'm the first one, I'm very obsessive, and I think about the things and I don't like to make the same mistake two times. That's also what brought me where I am, but maybe that also I will think about it too much, so I will try to, especially with my team will help me, like, not to, how do you say --

Q. Obsess?

PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, myself, how to distract myself. I even forgot how to speak English today. Imagine (smiling). What a day, man. Can I go to sleep (smiling)?