Paula Badosa might be enjoying herself on the tennis courts, but she faced plenty of criticism for her latest picture away from them.
Like everyone on the ATP and WTA Tour, the Spanish player moved to Asia after her stay in North America. Since she started to struggle with injuries last year, she has been enjoying probably the best period of her tennis career in recent months.
It started with her title win at the Citi Open in Washington, which she followed up on by playing the semi-finals at the Cincinnati Open and then the quarter-finals at the US Open. Both times, she lost to an American player—first to Jessica Pegula and then to Emma Navarro.
An American player also stopped her at her next event, the China Open, a WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing. Badosa reached the semi-finals, but Coco Gauff proved too strong for her.
The Spanish player held a significant lead in the match, winning the first set 6-4 and leading 3-1 and 40-30 in the second set. Still, it wasn't enough for her as she lost the match 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.
After the tournament, she took time to emotionally reflect on the experience. It was a disappointing loss for her since she could have reached her fifth career final and second at the WTA 1000 level.
Given that she had never lost in a final match before and that her opponent would be Karolina Muchova, a tremendously talented player who was, however, not among the seeded players due to her injury struggles, Badosa would have likely fancied her chances in the final.
Still, she didn't get to play that match, so the only thing left for her was to reflect on her stay in Beijing. Her coach, Pol Toledo Bague, did the same by sharing a series of pictures on his Instagram profile.
However, in one of those pictures, Badosa appeared to be mocking Asian people by dragging her eyelids with chopsticks, which wasn't well received. Plenty of fans stormed into comments, criticizing the Spanish player for her gesture.
She noticed the comments and her coach took down the picture after a few hours as Badosa felt prompted to respond. In her initial response on Instagram, she claimed that the picture had nothing to do with imitating Asian people.
"Oh no, please don't get it that way. I never thought it would get interpreted this way. We weren't even imitating Asian people. I was playing around with my face and wrinkles. I love Asia, one of my favorite people, and I have plenty of Asian friends. They are the kindest."
However, a few hours later, when Badosa noticed that many more fans were enraged on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), she released yet another statement, claiming full responsibility for her actions.
"Hey guys! Really sorry didn’t know this was offensive towards racism. My mistake. I take full responsibility. This mistakes will make me learn for next time. Hope you understand... I love you all."
The draw for the 2024 Wuhan Open was released, and Badosa, who is the 14th seed, learned that she will have to play against Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round of the tournament.