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\n Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa defended herself against online criticism after a thigh injury forced her to withdraw from her Dubai tournament match. The former world No. 2 spoke out about the challenges of competing with chronic injuries and the mental health impact of social media abuse on athletes.\n <\/p>\n
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Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa issued a strong response Wednesday to online critics who accused her of showing disrespect to the sport after a thigh injury forced her to withdraw from her Dubai Tennis Championships match.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old athlete, who previously held the world No. 2 ranking, had been leading 4-1 against Elina Svitolina in Tuesday\u2019s second-round contest before losing five consecutive games and the opening set. Following medical treatment for her right thigh, Badosa made the difficult decision to retire from the match.<\/p>\n
After facing criticism on social media, Badosa responded with a passionate defense of her decision and career struggles.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have no idea what it\u2019s like to live with a chronic injury and still choose to keep going,\u201d Badosa wrote. \u201cTo wake up everyday not knowing how your body will respond, searching for solutions, and fighting for something you love and give everything even when it\u2019s so difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Spanish player has battled multiple injuries throughout her career, including persistent back problems that nearly led her to consider early retirement in 2024. Despite these setbacks, she managed to climb back into the top 10 rankings last year through determined performances.<\/p>\n
Badosa described experiencing \u201cendless nightmares\u201d while seeking permanent solutions to her health issues, but emphasized that her love for tennis makes the struggle worthwhile.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019ll keep trying,\u201d she stated. \u201cBecause it\u2019s all about trying and that won\u2019t change. I\u2019ll always try one more time. I\u2019m doing this for my passion \u2026 If there\u2019s even a 1% chance to keep going, I\u2019ll take it. That\u2019s just how I see and understand life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her response has sparked broader discussion about the harmful impact of social media criticism on professional athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me the only disrespect here is to open social media and read messages like this,\u201d Badosa continued. \u201cThen we complain if we see players suffering and having mental health issues, but I\u2019m not surprised with the amount of hate and \u2018experts\u2019 we have here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Women\u2019s Tennis Association confirmed to Reuters that shielding players from online harassment and threats remains a top priority for the organization.<\/p>\n
This issue extends beyond Badosa\u2019s experience. Australian player Destanee Aiava announced last week her intention to leave professional tennis this year, citing a culture she described as \u201cracist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile\u201d while pointing to the online negativity she has endured.<\/p>\n
Multiple female players have shared similar experiences, including Svitolina, who revealed receiving death threats after her Canadian Open loss last season. She attributed this \u201cshameful\u201d behavior to upset gamblers.<\/p>\n
Research conducted jointly by the WTA and International Tennis Federation last year found that frustrated bettors were responsible for 40% of detected player abuse cases.<\/p>\n
World No. 6 Amanda Anisimova expanded on the problem\u2019s scope, explaining it goes beyond gambling-related harassment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s not just betting, it\u2019s overall cyber bullying all the time,\u201d Anisimova said. \u201cCommenting on everything, like my body all the time, every single day. It\u2019s difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that people realise the extent of it, how much of an effect it can have on someone,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa defended herself against online criticism after a thigh injury forced her to withdraw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[194919,194920,49,48,194913,194921,194915,194916,194914,194917,82,593,194918],"class_list":["post-482632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-102-3","tag-102-3fm","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fine-day","tag-fine-day-102-3","tag-fine-day-fm","tag-fine-day-media","tag-fine-day-radio","tag-have-a-fine-day","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-weller-radio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}