Do you believe in fate? It definitely played a role for Paula Badosa! This Spanish tennis star was almost ready to retire last year because of an injury, but now she’s fighting her way to her first Grand Slam title! What fueled this comeback? Maybe it was the frustration of those injuries. Badosa is showing everyone what she’s made of. Former pro Andy Roddick has been watching her journey closely, and he has a big prediction for her.

Badosa entered the ongoing Australian Open‘s semifinals after an impressive victory over Coco Gauff in two straight sets by 7-5, and 6-4 in Rod Laver Arena yesterday. The Spaniard’s performance left the fraternity stunned. And why wouldn’t that be? Badosa’s 2023 season was derailed by back injuries. A stress fracture forced her out of the French Open, and she had to retire hurt at Wimbledon. The pain lingered, and it took her six months to even play again. When she finally did, it took five days to recover, which terrified her. At Indian Wells, where she’d achieved her biggest career win, doctors delivered the devastating news: her back issues could end her career.

Despite a sloppy start to the 2024 season, the Spaniard eventually improved her form and won the 2024 Citi Open. She also reached the Cincinnati Masters semifinals. Badosa’s potential started to reappear when she reached the Quarterfinals of Flushing Meadows, the semifinals of the China Open and Ningbo Open. From 66 ranking, she rose to WTA number 11 and currently is in the 12th position.

In the Tuesday’s episode of his podcast Served, Andy Roddick discussed Badosa’s win over Gauff, and said, “Props to her again was outside the top 130 in the Wimbledon going on last year and now here she is in top 12 in the world, gets every single point from this Australian Open because remember she didn’t play much in the first four months of last year. So this is how as for the money goes…you gonna see her shoot up other ranking. She will be top five before you know, which is amazing from 2, all the way down wherever the hell she was, close to 200 and then back up to the top five. I don’t know if I saw this return to the top five. I certainly didn’t see it this quickly. Props, respect to Paula Badosa.”

Roddick also congratulated Badosa on her epic feat at the ongoing Australian Open through a tweet from the X platform of his podcast show. “HUGE congratulations to Paula Badosa for reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal,” tweeted Served by Andy Roddick with an explosion emoji that showcased the legend’s excitement about the WTA star’s next match against Aryna Sabalenka. Badosa is proud of herself!

Paula Badosa was “super proud” of her last performance

When the Spaniard won the Melbourne Slam’s quarterfinals against Gauff, she highlighted her struggles with a stress fracture in the post-victory press conference. Reflecting on her disappointing R128 loss at the 2024 Madrid Open, Badosa confessed, “I didn’t really know what to do and yeah, I also think, especially after my home tournament in Madrid, was very tough for me. A mix of back, mentally and everything and that moment I was thinking maybe I’m not made for being back again.”

Badosa’s thoughts were rooted in her difficulties with contact pain. She had to take injections to stop back inflammation and pain, limiting her physical exercise. Post-victory, Badosa said, “I’m a very emotional person and overcoming something like this, the last slam, the quarterfinals were very tough. Today, I came in, I wanted to play my best tennis. I did it. Coco, at the beginning, she was playing insane tennis. I’m super proud of the level I gave today.”

Paula Badosa’s Melbourne journey is a testament to her hard work and resilience. Despite challenges, she fought hard and reclaimed her spot, showing that she was a phoenix rising from her ashes.