Stefanos Tsitsipas beams with pride as girlfriend Paula Badosa wins WTA Comeback Player of the Year award
Paula Badosa was named the WTA's 2024 Comeback Player of the Year, and her boyfriend Stefanos Tsitsipas reacted to the news by sharing a short message. The Comeback Player of the Year award has been part of the WTA Awards since 1987 when it joined the ceremony which started a decade earlier in 1977. Winners are voted on by members of the international media.
"My dear Paula, you’ve worked so hard and shown such resilience to reestablish yourself as a top player this year, and I couldn’t be prouder of you for winning the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award. As someone once famously said, ’Spanish never die," Tsitsipas wrote on X.
Badosa has struggled with a chronic back injury for much of the early part of the 2024 season, even thinking about giving up on the sport entirely. During Wimbledon, she admitted that she was told that stopping altogether was a reality for her, but she fought through all of that and ultimately found a level close to her best tennis.
“Also this year when I started the year, I didn’t know what was going to happen. Like, the doctors were telling me I couldn’t maybe continue," Badosa said at Wimbledon (via Tennis365).
Sitting on the couch and not playing was behind her as she even won a trophy again. That happened in Washington, and the resurgence continued with a solid run at the US Open and a couple of more notable results. Overall, the Spaniard was voted the Comeback Player of the Year because she turned around a season that was going horribly into something worthwhile.
The bigger picture with the chronic back injury that won't go away is even more notable, as she's enduring more than most to simply be playing. That sort of determination and dedication to the sport didn't go unnoticed.
Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas relationship
Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas have been one of the most beloved tennis couples in recent times, thanks to mostly being quite open about it. While they did keep it somewhat secretive at the start, they went public and were very active on social media for a while. Although they became more private as time went on and briefly broke up, the pair is still going strong and enjoying each other's company.
They prominently feature in each other's social media posts, allowing fans some glimpses into the budding romance, which has slowly overtaken Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils as the darling couple of tennis. These days, they're in the United Arab Emirates getting ready for the World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi, where they might play doubles together as they're in the same team.