Paula Badosa has given fans an encouraging health update after she was forced to retire in the second round of this week's Thailand Open.
The former World No.2 was trailing now-semifinalist Diana Shnaider 6-2, 3-4 in Wednesday's second round at the WTA 250 event when she was forced to quit the match due to a back injury -- leading fans to speculate that the Spaniard had suffered a setback in regards to the recurring problem that kept her off the tour for the last seven months.
Badosa wrote on social media Friday that that is not the case. She attributed the retirement to inflammation, rather than re-injury, writing that she was sharing "good news all in all."
She gave no timeline for her return to competition, but thanked fans for their support.
"I'm going to work with my team now 24/7 to get the inflammation down as soon as possible so I can compete soon," she wrote on X. "We keep fighting."
Buenos noticias dentro de todo, no he recaído en la lesión afortunadamente. Voy a trabajar con mi equipo ahora 24/7 para bajar la inflamación lo antes posible y poder competir pronto. Gracias por todos los mensajes 🫶
— Paula Badosa (@paulabadosa) February 2, 2024
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The 26-year-old's injury woes have lasted nearly a full year, dating back to a stress fracture in her spine ahead of Roland Garros last spring. She later played a match-and-a-half at Wimbledon -- retiring after nine games in her second-round match against Marta Kostyuk -- and was sidelined for the rest of the year.
After losing in the first round of the Adelaide International to American Bernarda Pera, Badosa reached the third round of the Australian Open in her return to Grand Slam action. She beat Taylor Townsend and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, both in straight sets, before losing to Amanda Anisimova -- who's also on the comeback trail this year after taking a sabbatical for mental health reasons in 2023.
Badosa is currently ranked No.83.
