Badosa emotional about the consequences of her back injury: "I couldn't even sleep anymore"

Plagued by back problems for many months, Badosa was forced to withdraw mid-tournament in Miami. The Spaniard left the tournament before her round of 16 match against young Eala.

The misfortune didn’t end there for the 27-year-old player, who also announced her withdrawal from next week’s Charleston tournament (March 31–April 6).

On Caroline Garcia’s podcast, the world No. 11 emotionally revisited the circumstances of this injury, which she has been dealing with for a long time now. She also explained her determination to fight to keep playing:

"I insisted on trying to enter a tournament even though I wasn’t at 100%. My team warned me, told me it was a delicate injury. I insisted, saying I could play with the brace.

I had never had injuries before, I couldn’t accept stopping. I wanted to feel like a tennis player again, until I suffered a stress fracture in my L4 vertebra.

In 2023 in Rome, I hit a cross-court backhand and felt something strange. I kept playing with painkillers. I played two or three more matches, but I was destroyed. I couldn’t even sleep anymore.

I had an MRI. I was supposed to play at Roland-Garros, but the doctors told me: 'You need to rest for at least three or four months.' I said: no, I’m going to Roland-Garros, I’m going to play. They insisted: 'You have to stop.' That’s when it all started."