By Alberto Amalfi | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, April 23, 2024
A persistent again situation has pained Paula Badosa and will trigger the untimely finish to her aggressive profession.
Former world No. 2 Badosa informed WTA Insider Podcast’s Courtney Nguyen she is receiving cortisone injections for the ache in her again.
Whereas the cortisone can assist alleviate her again ache within the quick time period, docs informed Badosa she might have simply “just a few extra years” left on tour due to her again situation.
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“In Indian Wells, the docs informed me it might be very sophisticated to proceed my profession,” Badosa informed WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen. “They mentioned that is the one possibility we may give you and possibly you’ll have to preserve doing that if you wish to play for just a few extra years.
“I mentioned, ‘A couple of extra years? I am nonetheless 26.’ For me, that was very robust. To date, the injections are working. The ache is at all times there, however there have been instances I could not even deal with it.”
Stinging again ache has triggered Badosa to retire from three completely different tournaments this season, in Dubai, Thailand and final week in Stuttgart the place she was deadlocked with world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 3-3 within the remaining set, when she pulled the plug.
The 2021 Indian Wells champion mentioned dealing with the again harm and the continual concern it might halt her profession is a scary state of affairs.
“That is like the primary time that I’m opening up, so I am nonetheless fairly scared,” Badosa mentioned. “They mentioned this may increasingly work for just a few months however we’ll must verify once more, so I am scared I am going to must cease once more.
“It is on a regular basis chasing this, waking up each morning and the ache it is there and generally I couldn’t deal with it, however now I can. A minimum of that is the constructive factor.”
Photograph credit score: Matthew Calvis
