"People have to see that athletes are not robots" - says Paula Badosa

Paula Badosa has had a whirlwind 12 months that saw her rise from being world number 72 to almost the top of WTA tennis.

During those 12 months, Badosa won her maiden WTA trophy, won her first WTA 1000 trophy and rose to number 4 in the rankings. It's something that has always been her dream:

"To be the best in the world is something I have always dreamed of, but my first dream since I was very little was to win a Grand Slam. That’s the reason I wake up every morning, to hopefully become a Grand Slam champion one day."

Speaking of 2021 she said:

"2021 was a very important year for me and a positive step in achieving that dream. I think I'd hit a bit of a barrier of making semi-finals only, so winning my first tournament in Belgrade was a joy and it took a weight off my shoulders. That gave me a lot of confidence and I think that was when everything sort of clicked; my tennis improved and I grew mentally."

Something that improved for Badosa in her mental strenght as she explained:

"The biggest learning I took is the realisation of my own mental strength. You will never stop having tough moments on court - there are always fears and it’s a constant battle, so to know you can overcome those fears is really important. The fear of losing can kill you and there isn’t an easy fix, it’s a process you just have to push through. I think the key is simply to face your fears, no matter how badly you go through them and just trust that the bad times won’t define you."

As someone who is open about her own mental health issues in the past, Badosa thinks it's important to talk about it:

"Thanks to athletes like Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Alex Abrines, there has been a lot of conversation recently about athletes’ personal mental health experiences. I think those conversations are very important because in the end, mental health has to be normalised. People have to see that athletes are not robots. We are going to try and give 100% but that just isn’t realistic 100% of the time."