By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Paula Badosa advanced to her first Grand Slam semi-final at the third attempt after beating Coco Gauff at the Australian Open on Tuesday but the Spaniard said that just reaching the final four did not give her license to play with more freedom.
“I’m never going to feel freedom until I win the tournament,” said the former world number two after her 7-5 6-4 win over an error-prone third seed Gauff.
“I’m always like this. It’s my personality, my character. Today, of course, maybe I had a little bit less expectations, but I still had pressure, because I wanted to win so badly.
“I’ll step on the court in the semi-finals, I don’t care against whom, and I’ll want to win so badly. That’s part of me. When I’m in the final round, my level rises and I just want to give my 100% there and leave it all on the court.”
World number 12 Badosa had fallen out of the top 50 due to a series of injuries, including a chronic back problem that made her consider retirement.
“It was at one point last year that I was pretty close (to retirement) because I wasn’t seeing myself at the level,” said Badosa, who hired a new fitness coach and nutritionist after Madrid in one last roll of the dice.
The move paid off as her back began to feel better with new exercises and supplements.
“Here I am,” added Badosa, who will faces close friend and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the next round.
“I’m really proud of what we went through with my team and how I fought through all that, especially mentally.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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