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Paula Badosa expressed her emotions after being reminded about the biggest achievement of her career so far - winning the 2021 Indian Wells tournament. The Spanish tennis star returns to the venue of her most memorable WTA title this week, where she will aim to get back to winning ways in 2023.
Badosa won the title in the California WTA 1000 event as the 21st seed, beating some of her biggest competitors en route to the title. The current World No. 22 is set to be seeded somewhere around the same number this year and will hope that history repeats itself.
Reacting to a post from a fan page that reminisced about Badosa's 2021 Indian Wells victory, the former World No. 2 was quite touched by the same.
Earlier this week, Badosa took to the practice courts at Indian Wells, calling it her 'favorite place.'
The 25-year-old started her 2021 campaign in the Californian desert with a hard-fought three-set win over Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska. She then went on a roll of beating high-quality opponents, starting with a 6-2, 6-2 win over 15th seed Coco Gauff. The Spanish player then beat third seed Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets to move into the quarterfinals.
Badosa then registered a 6-4, 7-5 quarterfinals win over another Grand Slam champion in Angelique Kerber before a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Ons Jabeur to reach the final.
In the final, she triumphed against two-time Indian Wells champion Victoria Azarenka, clinching a thrilling match 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(2).
A look back at Paula Badosa's 2023 season ahead of Indian Wells
Paula Badosa began the 2023 season on a very positive note, reaching the semifinals of the Adelaide International 1. However, an injury she suffered during the tournament forced her to withdraw ahead of her semi-final against Daria Kasatkina and miss the Australian Open altogether.
Badosa also missed the Abu Dhabi Open, before making a comeback at the Qatar Open. Unseeded in Doha, she lost her tournament opener 6-7(6), 3-6 to Brazilian star Beatriz Haddad Maia. She then suffered another early loss, this time in a three-set thriller [7-6(3), 6-7(5), 4-6] against Liudmila Samsonova in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The World No. 22 has a lot of points to defend in Indian Wells this year as well, having reached the semifinals last season.
