"What's going in your head?" - Paula Badosa confronts fan who asked her to quit tennis after having earlier predicted that the Spaniard would rise to be World No. 1
Paula Badosa has been going through a lean phase in her career after a string of early exits since retiring midway through her first-round match at the Canadian Open.
Badosa failed to get past the second round at the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open before falling to Qinwen Zheng in Tokyo.
In an interesting scenario, the Spaniard responded to a social media user who asked her to quit the game by posting an earlier comment by the same individual who had predicted that she would reach the World No. 1 spot.
"What's going on in your head?," the World No. 3 asked after a flip-flop from the fan who had turned into a naysayer.
The congratulatory message from the fan read as below
"It was clear to me from the beginning that you were going to be the champion and also No. 1 in the future. Congratulations Paula," the user messaged (translated from Spanish)
Following a dramatic change of stance, the same user sent Badosa a disparaging message asking her to quit playing tennis.
"Stop playing tennis, please," the user said.
Badosa herself was distraught after her recent loss to Qinwen Zheng in the first round of the Japan Open as was evident from her tweet.
No gano ni al parchís
"I don't even win at parchís*," Badosa tweeted.
*Parchís is a game similar to ludo.
Badosa's ardent fans were quick to console her with messages of support and encouragement following which she thanked her well-wishers for standing by her and promised to keep fighting.
Gracias por el apoyo igualmente, seguiré luchando.
"Thanks for the support anyway, I'll keep fighting," she tweeted.
Recent slump preceded by resounding success for Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa created history by becoming the first Spanish woman to reach the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event when she reached the last four of the 2021 Madrid Open.
More success came her way at the 2021 French Open after she got past Danka Kovinic, Ana Bogdan, and Marketa Vondrousova en route to a place in the quarterfinals.
After reaching the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, Badosa lost to Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia despite being up a break in the decider.
The 24-year-old began the 2022 season in style, winning the Sydney International after defeating Barbara Krejcikova in the final. Badosa made it to the semifinals of the Indian Wells Open but had to retire in the quarterfinals in Miami.
Paula Badosa World No.2 next Monday
🇪🇸 Paula Badosa World No.2 next Monday https://t.co/gzTdgWnUjw
Paula Badosa reached a career-high ranking of World No. 2 after reaching the semifinals of the Stuttgart Open in April.