Badosa reveals new challenges during 2022 season: “For the first time I feel that I have haters”

As she rose to the top of tennis over the course of the last two years, so did the pressure mount on Paula Badoas to deliver results.

There hasn't been much of that lately but the Spaniard experienced overwhelming hate on social media which comes with the territory of being one of the best in something. It's something she hasn't faced before simple because she wasn't exposed and known as much as a player and with her history of mental health struggles, it's something she address lately:

"I'm dealing with so many new things this year. One of the things that I'm dealing with is that, of course, I love them and I have a lot of fans, but for the first time I feel as well that I have haters. That was very tough for me to understand because I couldn't understand why people can hate me without knowing me, you know?"

It's something most of her colleagues know very well as many have spoken about the daily hate they are getting for various different reasons. To her it's sad and it's tough dealing with it:

"It's still tough for me to see people that, no matter what you do, they're still going to judge you and criticize you, and they're going to hate you. I'm still dealing with that and it's something that's tough to handle."

As many Badosa tried to block out as much as she can but curiosity overcomes many things and fears and she admitted to reading the message knowing full well that she should not have:

"Of course I was looking at the messages, but it's the worst decision you can do, because, of course, people will have their opinions. When you lose, it won't be good and you read things you don't like and will hurt you. I don't know about other players, but I was reading them because I really cared what people think. That's one of the things I'm changing because I cannot care about what everyone says as I cannot control that."