Paula Badosa is one of the players who chose to skip the 2024 Paris Olympics, instead opting to compete at the Citi Open in Washington.
The Spanish player has struggled a lot with injuries over her tennis career, and as such, most of her decisions, when it comes to her schedule, will consider the probability of getting injured.
Many players spoke about the surface changes between the Wimbledon Championships, the Olympic Games, and subsequently the North American hard-court part of the season as a reason for skipping the Olympics, including Emma Raducanu.
Badosa had a great grass-court part of the season, which clearly boosted her confidence. She first made it to the last eight in Bad Homburg, before making it to Wimbledon, where she reached the round of 16 before losing to Donna Vekic.
Speaking ahead of the 2024 Citi Open, she was really happy about how the grass-court part of the season went, especially after her season prior to that was on and off with injuries always stopping her.
"I think the grass season, the two tournaments that I played, I felt pretty well there. I played really good matches. The last one was a pity, was a shame, because it was very close. I think I brought a good level there."
"So I think that gave me a lot of confidence, especially now for the hard court season. This is a swing I always like. I like to come back to the U.S. after the Europe swing. I'm looking forward to it. I'm really excited."
Naturally, the 26-year-old was also asked about her decision to skip the Olympic Games. Like many of her colleagues, Badosa also named the rapid and drastic surface change as a reason for her decision, that ultimately saw her travel to Washington for the WTA 500 event.
"Well, my decision was I said it right when the list came out that I was going to play here. I'm not going to change surface that quickly, like from grass to clay, then next Toronto hard court. For my back was not the best. I have to prioritize my health."
Badosa, who was ranked as high as World No. 2 on the WTA Tour, is currently ranked 65th, and when she was making the decision, she was ranked even lower, as it was before she made the Bad Homburg Open quarter-finals and fourth round at Wimbledon.
Because of that, her decision was dependant also on where she was able to use her protected ranking, and as such, she chose the US Open, where she could earn plenty of ranking points, instead of the Olympics.
"Also for the protected rankings I had to choose in that moment. My ranking wasn't great, so I had to choose that or the US Open. I prefer choosing on a tournament that gives me points."
"That was a little bit my decision. Of course, it's a shame I cannot play Olympics. The conditions are what it was. So I have to prioritize my back in that case."
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