Paula Badosa, former World No. 2 in tennis, has stunned World No. 7 Coco Gauff at the Gass Court Championships in Berlin. The Spanish player, now ranked 142 in the world, defeated Suzan Lamens 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday, marking her first victory in two months and her first win over a top 10 in a year.
One day later, she defeated Gauff: lost the first set 1-6, but then won the other two sets 6-3, 6-2, one of the most important victories in recent years, and qualified for quarter-finals, set to play against Linda Noskavá on Friday.
In the press conference after the match, she spoke about how personal things have affected her performance over the past years, and directly talked about her ex partner, tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas.
"I've been through a lot of breakups in my life, I accept them and I know things are the way they are. But when there are toxic things around, it makes everything much harder than a normal breakup.
"You can have a great relationship with an ex because they're normal people and it's a normal relationship. But when it's not like that... I don't need to explain any further. You can see every day that the other person makes everything harder. Finally, it's been a few months since I've been in a good environment, but getting past the toxic things around me wasn't easy. But it's something you have to go through as a woman, and I'm feeling strong again".
In case there were any doubts (Badosa broke up with Tsitsipas for good in July 2025, after two years of intermittent relationship), the 28-year-old joked at the end of the press conference: "Now I want to see tomorrow's headlines: 'Paula attacks Tsitsipas'... Well, he deserves it!"
According to Ben Rothenberg, Aryna Sabalenka, close friends with Badosa, said that when she heard what Badosa had said, "I was that friend that sent her an audio, like two minutes, laughing, screaming, saying 'Yes, girl! You made it!'"
