Gauff addresses playing Badosa in Rome and the Spaniard’s injury struggles.
Coco Gauff described Paula Badosa as “a nice girl” and admitted she “felt compelled” to reach out to the Spaniard when she was going through a very difficult and challenging injury period.
After sustaining a stress fracture in her back in Rome exactly a year ago, Badosa was able to play just one more tournament in the remainder of 2023. This year, Badosa’s back issues continued and very sadly, the 26-year-old recently revealed that it was a chronic issue and that the end of her tennis journey may be near.
In one of her interviews, former world No. 2 Badosa revealed that 2023 US Open champion Gauff sent her a message to check on her.
And ahead of their Rome round-of-16 meeting, Gauff was asked to address Badosa revealing her act publicly and highlighing that as something she deeply appreciated.
Gauff on reaching out to Badosa and the Spaniard appreciating it
“I think she’s a player that loves to play tennis. Unfortunate with all the injuries she’d had trying to come back. Something else happening…” Gauff said.
“I felt compelled to just send her a message. I do that with most players on tour that I know. I’ll send a message if I have their number or if we follow each other on Instagram.
“Definitely I think we’re pretty friendly on tour. We aren’t close friends. We’re definitely in different stages. I feel like that’s a lot of me on tour. I think she’s 25 maybe, so five years’ age gap. We’re never going to be close friends, but I’m definitely friendly with her on tour. I always root for her.”
On Monday, Gauff and Badosa will be meeting for the fifth game. Going into the match, Badosa – who beat Gauff in their only clay meeting in Madrid last year – owns a 3-1 head-to-head versus the 20-year-old American.
Gauff may be the better player at the moment but she underlines that she won’t be taking Badosa for granted.
“It’s going to be tough playing her. It is a tough matchup for me. I think she’s getting back to her top form. She was No. 2 in the world, playing well. She’s always dangerous regardless of how the past weeks have gone,” Gauff said of facing Badosa.