Paula Badosa issues 'racism' apology after Asian gesture

Paula Badosa came under fire on Sunday as she appeared to mock Asian people with her gestures which resulted in her offering an apology. She clarified that she never did it to offend and expressed regret.

Her coach Paul Toledo posted a photo dump on his Instagram. One of the pictures showed the former World No.2 pulling her eyelids back with chopsticks. This led to fans believing that she was mocking the eyes of Southeast Asians.

She commented on the post explaining that she was just 'playing around' with her face and meant no malice by it expressing her love for Asian people.

"Oh no please don't get it that way. Never thought it would get interpreted this way we weren't even imitating Asian people. I was playing around with my face and wrinkles. I love Asia one of my favorite people and have plenty of Asian friends. They are the kindest," she wrote.

Also with it being shared all over the social media platform X, she also issued an apology. "Hey guys! Really sorry didn’t know this was offensive towards racism. My mistake. I take full responsibility. This mistakes will make me learn for next time. Hope you understand…. I love you all," she said.

It is a pretty poor end to a great week for Badosa who began her Asian Swing by reaching the semi-finals losing to Coco Gauff at the China Open. She scored a dominant win over Viktoriya Tomova, followed by wins over Rebecca Sramkova, Jessica Pegula, Zhang Shuai before finally facing the American.

But this loss was no bad thing as the American went on to rout Karolina Muchova in the final who many thought was one of the best players if not the best in Beijing this past week.

Albeit she has since also withdrawn from Wuhan this week with Ajla Tomljanovic now facing a lucky loser Lucia Bronzetti. The Aussie ace is in form having won the Hong Kong 125 last week while Badosa moves on albeit not in the best of ways following some of her best form in many years.