The world’s number 4 warns her rivals that “it can be very dangerous”
Paula Badosa took her first solid step in the Wimbledon tournament and convincingly defeated American Louisa Chirico (6-2, 6-1). The Catalan was happy after the game, as she had been aggressive and managed the challenges of playing with winds that were not stormy but constant.
They had never faced each other on a track, and they may not know that they crossed in opposite directions. In 2016, they both played in the Madrid tournament. Chirico was a promising 20-year-old tennis player, who was ranked as the 58th best tennis player in the world. He played one of his best tournaments. The passage of Badosa, the 220 at the time, was not memorable.
Chirico then suffered a chain of injuries that sank her. She’s moved up 100 places in the past few months and now stands at 236. She seemed overjoyed to have landed on the field of a Grand Slam tournament. He made it neither at the US Open in 2021 nor in Paris this year. She was knocked out in the first round at Wimblendon six years ago and played with a smile. It was her again.
But smiling is not imposed in tennis. There was no facet of the game in which Chirico seemed better than Badosa. He was effective with his first serve, not because of his strength but because of his good direction. In the rally, she could not resist the thrust of the Spaniard, who had lost in the first round of the Eastbourne preparatory tournament and made unknown mistakes, she said.
“I already said that I played well and that I lost because of the merit of the rival,” Badosa explained after his win. She and her team believe she is in good shape. She has trained every day since the loss at Eastbourne and calmly says: “I think I could be very dangerous.” The world’s number 4 wants to go further than last year’s fourth round.
How does Badosa play on a windy field? “When the wind is in my favor I play with spin, and when it’s against I hit it hard, but not to clinch but to simplify.” He had the wind under control and avoided the risks of the grass: “always difficult, anything can happen.” Another tennis player’s motto is that she learns from defeats. She is now up against Romanian Irina Bara.
Source: La Verdad
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