"This isn’t how I wanted my season to end, I’m proud of myself for continuing to show up" - Paula Badosa over and out in 2026 with reflection statement

Paula Badosa has had another testing and challenging season where her unfortunate luck with injuries was not to subside. While there have been positive steps back to her best, she draws her year to a close far off from where she wants to be and off the back of another emotional retirement.

The Spaniard finishes the year off with 19 victories and 20 defeats. A 49% win percentage is her worst return since 2019. She came off the back of a tumultuous 2025 campaign where injuries wrecked any promise that she unearthed in court.

There is no doubt in the talent, but staying fit is another question altogether for the former World No.2. She tumbled down the rankings after the Australian Open, losing big following her magical semi-final run a year prior.

She retired in Dubai before a string of defeats on clay led to her skipping the events in Rome and Paris. She showed some promise on grass despite a first round loss at Wimbledon. She got back to the top step of the podium in a WTA 125 event in Bastad. By this time, she had dropped out of the top 100, but was making the march back up the order with her form starting to turn around. She retired in the final of the Iasi Open but made a swift recovery and would feature in the last-eight of the Hamburg Open.

Her best result from that point was a semi-final run in Sao Paolo. These deep runs are promising, but a player with the calibre of Badosa will be disappointed not to get over the finishing line. She finished her season at the Hong Kong Open after a slightly affected Asian swing, pulling out of Wuhan. She retired against Elena Pridankia and ended her campaign on a sombre note.

The culmination of any season is a time for reflection. The 28-year-old currently sits 57th in the world after a tremendous rise from the depths of the WTA rankings, but it is still far off the standard that she is trying to reach.

Looking back on the events of 2026, she reminisced with a long post on Instagram partnered with four pictures in black and white. "My season has come to an end. Looking at these pictures in black and white, I feel like it reflects this season better than any words could. It hasn’t been an easy one. There have been moments that have hurt more than people know, days when things felt heavier than they should, and times when I’ve had to deal with a lot more than just what happens on the court.

"This season has tested my patience, my confidence and my ability to keep going when things haven’t gone my way. It hasn’t always been easy to stay positive, but even on the hardest days, one thing never changed: I never stopped believing in myself and in what I’m capable of.

"I know how much I’ve put into this, how many sacrifices I’ve made and how badly I wanted things to be different. And even though this isn’t how I wanted my season to end, I’m proud of myself for continuing to show up, to fight and to give everything I had, even when it wasn’t easy.

"To the people who have been there through all of it, not just when things were going well, but especially when they weren’t… Thank you. For listening, for understanding, for reminding me who I am when I needed it most, and for never making me feel like I had to go through it all alone. You know who you are, and I’ll never take that for granted.

"I’m ending this season with a lot of emotions, a lot of lessons and a fire inside me that hasn’t gone anywhere. I can’t change what happened, but I can decide what I do with it. I know what I’ve been through, I know what I’m working for, and I know I’m not done. I owe it to myself to keep going, to come back, and to give myself the chance to show what I know I can do. This chapter didn’t go the way I wanted, but I’m not closing my story here. I’ll be back. And when I am, I’ll remember exactly why I started. See you in 2027."

Badosa will rest and reset ahead of the 2027 season, determined to get to the bottom of her problems and rise back up the ranks to where her level on court reflects.