"Learning to lose": Badosa on most difficult part of playing on tour week in week out

Paula Badosa has been a professional tennis player for a while but there are still things she struggles with and being able to handle losses well is one of those things.

No tennis player has ever won every match. Losses are quite common especially the further you go from the top of the sport and ultimately only one player each week remains undefeated. Dozens of others end up losing matches and that's something that Badosa still struggles with. Nobody likes to lose and being able to handle losses is a key component to being a player because it allows you to bounce back well next week.

She explained:

“Learning to lose is the hardest thing for me. We play every week and there’s a day of that week that you’re going to lose, because obviously you don’t win every competition, it’s impossible. During a very good year, you can win two or three tournaments. You already know that others are going to lose them and that’s why you have to train your head to learn to lose, which is one of the things that has been most difficult for me to understand. Also, that you can take positive things out of failure and that every week is a new opportunity.”

She also spoke about the toughness of a tennis circuit having to travel all the time:

“It’s crazy. For me, the tennis circuit is the most intense there is. You start the year in January, in Australia, and you finish it in November, in Japan, having gone through all the continents. It becomes very intense. The good thing is that I’m doing what I like, which in the end is a passion. But it is still mentally very demanding. Yesterday I was landing here, from the United States. Today I am in Madrid and the day after tomorrow I am in Germany.”