‘Why People Can Hate Me…’- Paula Badosa Painfully Details Change in Mindset to Deal With Scores of Hate Messages

Paula Badosa started off the year with a smashing victory at the Sydney International. However, after that, she struggled to gain any more titles. Nonetheless, she continued fighting and reached the later rounds of many tournaments. Despite her hard work on the court, winning or losing a match did not always bring a lot of praise her way. Recently, she talked about the online criticism she got and how she was severely affected by it.

The Spanish player is still looking to win her first major title. Having achieved a career-high ranking of world no.2 this season, she will be looking to secure a first Grand Slam title in the coming season.

Paula Badosa on accepting that people have varying opinions on her performances

Badosa was talking on the WTA series, ‘The Real Me’. She is the current world no.4 on the WTA rankings chart. And this has come with hard work and efforts that she has put into her game. However, the ride hasn’t always been smooth. She has fans who adore her, but during the interview she also revealed how she struggled with the idea of having haters. She said, “But for the first time, I feel as well that I have haters and that was very tough for me to understand because I couldn’t understand why people can hate me without knowing me.” 

Even though it is tough to handle, the player is trying to accept it. She said, “No matter what you do, they are gonna judge you and they are gonna criticize you and they are gonna hate you.”

Furthermore, the Spanish player talked about reading negative comments on social media, which bothered her. Badosa said, “I was reading them (messages) because I really cared what people think.” She stated that she wants people to like her, but that is something she is working on not to be.

READ MORE: ‘I’m Not Rafa Nadal’ – Paula Badosa Vents Out Frustration Over How People Got ‘Spoiled’ in Spain With Unjust Comparisons

Apart from that, Badosa also had to delete social media because of the consistent hate she was getting. She said, “I couldn’t really sleep because I thought maybe what people were saying was true.”

Badosa on Spanish players getting compared to Rafael Nadal 

In the same interview, she added, “I can not care about everything that everyone says because I can not control them.” From her own words, it is evident that she seems resolute in not letting people’s opinions affect her. Like every other young player, Badosa admires Rafael Nadal and wished to emulate the legendary Spaniard. However, she also stated once that the continuous comparison of up-and-coming Spanish players with Nadal is doing them more harm than good.

What do you think of Badosa’s statements? Do you think fan criticism has a major impact on the performance of players?

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