NEW YORK -- Paula Badosa minced no words after her 6-2, 7-5 loss to Emma Navarro in the US Open quarterfinals. After a resurgent summer that saw her win the title in Washington D.C. and make her first major quarterfinal in three years, Badosa let a 5-1 lead slip in the second set before falling.
US Open: Scores | Draw | Order of play
"I'm very disappointed with my level today," Badosa told reporters. "I think she played really good and she managed the situation really well, and I was completely disaster."
Badosa said she woke up feeling fine and her warm-up went without a hitch. But after walking onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time in her career, the 26-year-old felt the moment overwhelm her. Even after building a seemingly insurmountable lead in the second set, Badosa said she was off.
"I just stepped on the court, and I felt weird," Badosa said. "I was surprised at myself, because normally I like to play these things, but I think it's not the court. It was more the round for me, and seeing myself sometimes so close, so far but so close at the same time and with a good level. Your mind, it's very tough to stay in the present. I think my mind was everywhere except in the present.
"It's something I have been working and I've been improving so much, but it's something that also hurt me so much in my career. Sometimes wanting it so much and thinking ahead of it, and sometimes I can't even focus in that moment. And I think today was a little bit that."
Once the sting subsides, Badosa will step back and realize the comeback she's engineered over the past six months. This time last year, Badosa was on her couch recovering from a stress fracture in her back. When the tour turned to the clay this spring, she was ranked outside the Top 80 and still feeling debilitating pain in her back during training and matches. It was so bad that she openly discussed her hope to just be able to play a few more years.
But after receiving successful treatment in the spring, Badosa has marched her way back toward the top, where she sat as No.2-ranked player just over two years ago. But after making the Wimbledon Round of 16, winning Washington D.C. and making her first US Open quarterfinal, Badosa will return to the Top 20 in Monday's rankings and surge up inside the Top 15 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals.
And she has no points to defend for the rest of the year.
"Now I say it's a disaster, but when I started in Washington I would sign for all the results, for sure," Badosa said. "And coming from where I'm coming from, look, I have to be happy. I don't know. Maybe I'm 15 in the Race, so I wasn't expecting that a few months ago. So on that, I'm really proud of myself."
But none of that will paper over the feeling that she missed a big opportunity in New York.
"The thing that for me that makes me the way I am today, it's a Slam and your dream is always to make last rounds in a Slam. Performing the way I performed today, I know that if it wasn't a Slam I would perform well. So that's what's a little bit why I'm like this today. Because I didn't know how to handle it the best way.
"Now I have to wait four months for the next Slam, so it sucks."
