Iga Swiatek’s doping controversy doesn’t seem to be coming to an end anytime soon, but still, she’s quite reluctant to waste any more time in the tussle. The Polish star is set to kick off her 2025 campaign at the United Cup. Recently, she shared glimpses of her practice for the first time since addressing the failed doping test. In her recent IG post, we saw several fans pouring a lot of love after seeing her hitting the court yet again after a long gap. However, the most surprising reaction came from her peer, Paula Badosa. No one expected her to drop a reaction on her post, especially after seeing her getting heavily criticized by Swiatek’s fans a few months ago.

Why did Paula Badosa get criticized, though? Well, the Spaniard came under fire on social media due to a “racism” controversy during the China Open. It all started with her fitness coach, Pol Toledo, posting a series of images on his IG account depicting her journey in Beijing. However, in one of those images, Paula Badosa was spotted pointing the chopsticks to her eyes and it seemed as if she was pulling them back. Interestingly, that is also a gesture seen as mocking East Asia facial features.

Badosa apologized to the fans later on, for all the misunderstandings saying she was “playing around” with her face and wrinkles. However, fans didn’t look pleased with that too! Some of them including some Iga Swiatek fans called her apology insincere. Later on, the controversy got reignited yet again when Paula Badosa reshared another Toledo’s post on her IG stories with the caption, “Thank you for not posting a picture that gets me in trouble this time.” Fans were quite upset with this reaction and they even called her out for joking about the incident.

After that, we saw Paula Badosa responding to her critics and even engaging in a heated argument with her fans on social media. However, after all these things, some of the fans have now started to raise their eyebrows when they saw her liking Iga Swiatek’s recent IG post. Interestingly, even Iga Swiatek also follows Badosa on IG.

Is the hate only restricted to the fans, then? How is the relationship between these two players, though? Well, they have met each other only three times in their careers. Currently, Iga Swiatek has a 2-1 lead over Paula Badosa in the H2H. Interestingly, the pair were spotted having a pleasant exchange at the net after the 2024 BJK Cup Finals. What did they say?

What did Iga Swiatek say to Paula Badosa during their latest encounter in Malaga?

Fans witnessed a thrilling encounter between the two finest players in women’s tennis! Iga Swiatek took the first set against Paula Badosa at the BJK Cup Finals. However, Badosa came back strongly in the second set, but did she manage to win the match, though? Well, the answer is no! Swiatek sealed the deal in the third and the match concluded at 6-3,4(5)-7,6-1!

However, after the match, we saw a heartwarming moment featuring these two superstars. At the net, they hugged each other and coincidentally, Badosa who was also celebrating her 27th birthday said to Swiatek, “Thanks for ruining my birthday!” She even later shared a post on her IG stories with the caption, “It was very nice to share the court with you again. You made me realize I still have to work a bit more, keep inspiring.” What did Swiatek say after the match, though?

In the post-match press conference, she didn’t look too keen to share the details of their private chat. However, she did mention, “I wanted to apologize for something that happened during the match. She was totally fine with it, like, probably was only in my head.” Later on, Iga Swiatek even expressed her delight at seeing Paula Badsoa competing at such a high level after having an injury-plagued 2023 season. She also spoke about the wish she had for her. What was it? “I just said that I’m happy that she’s back and she’s playing such good quality. I told her at the end that hopefully we’re going to play Grand Slam final soon together,” said Swiatek. Share your thoughts on the friendship of Paula Badosa and Iga Swiatek.