Paula Badosa

Paula Badosa Gibert (born 15 November 1997) is a Spanish professional tennis player.

She has been ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she achieved on 25 April 2022, and No. 124 in doubles, attained on the same date.

She has won three WTA Tour singles titles, and produced her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2021 French Open.

Later that year, she won the Indian Wells Open, a WTA 1000 tournament and her biggest career title to date.

Badosa is a former junior world No. 8. She made her debut at the ITF Junior Circuit in September 2012, at the age of 14.

Badosa made her debut on the ITF Women's Circuit in May 2012 in Getxo.

In November 2013, she won her first title in Sant Jordi.

In February 2014, she won her first junior singles title at the Grade-1 Mediterranee Avenir in Casablanca.

In April 2014, she won the doubles title at a Grade-1 tournament, the Trofeo Juan Carlos Ferrero in Villena.

In May 2014, she reached the semifinals of the Grade-A Trofeo Bonfiglio in doubles.

In the juniors division of the 2014 French Open, she reached the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles.

She then reached the quarterfinals in the juniors division at Wimbledon in singles.

She finished runner-up at the European Junior Championships in singles, losing to compatriot Sara Sorribes Tormo, and finished runner–up in doubles.

In the third round, she lost to 14th seed Karolína Plíšková.

Later, she reached the main draw of the Madrid Open through qualifying, but retired in her first-round match against Sara Errani.

As a junior, Badosa was ranked as high as No. 8 in the world and was the 2015 French Open girls' singles champion.

She completed her junior career at the 2015 French Open, where she won the girls' singles title.

In juniors she won three singles and one doubles titles on the circuit.

In March 2015, she made her first breakthrough after receiving a wildcard for the main draw at the Premier Mandatory Miami Open, where she recorded her first two match wins on the WTA Tour.

At the 2018 Morocco Open, she reached the quarterfinals and lost to Aleksandra Krunić.

In September, she won the $60k Open de Valencia, defeating fellow Spaniard Aliona Bolsova in the final.

As a professional, she broke into the top 100 in 2019, after making her second consecutive WTA Tour semifinal at the Karlsruhe Open.

The next year, she reached the fourth round at the French Open, her furthest round at a major thus far, and emerged into the top 70.

Badosa made new strides in 2021 after a breakthrough clay swing in which she contested her first WTA 500 semifinal in Charleston and WTA 1000 semifinal in Madrid, as well as a WTA 250 final in Belgrade, where she won her maiden career title.

By doing so, she entered the top 40, and shortly broke into the top ten following her first WTA 1000 title at Indian Wells and WTA Finals debut later that fall.

In 2022, Badosa notched her fourth career fourth-round performance at a major at the Australian Open, guaranteeing her top five debut.

Badosa is an aggressive baseliner, whose game style is centered around her big serve and groundstrokes.

At 1.80m, she possesses one of the fastest serves on tour, allowing her to dictate rallies, but she is also an athletic counterpuncher, whose defense has enabled her to reach drop shots and cover all angles on the court.

Paula Badosa was born in Manhattan, New York, to Spanish parents Mireia Gibert Baró and Josep Badosa Codolar.

Both of her parents worked in fashion.

When she was seven, Badosa and her family moved to Barcelona.

She then started playing tennis, at Club Tennis d'Aro (Platja d'Aro).

At the age of 14, she moved to Valencia in order to progress in tennis.

At the age of 17, she returned to Barcelona.

Besides Spanish, she speaks Catalan, English and a little French.

Her favourite tournament is the US Open.

Her idols growing up were Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova.

Badosa has also said she is a huge admirer of Simona Halep.

When she was a child she aspired to be a model, following her parents' path.

She has struggled with depression and anxiety.