It’s been a rough year for Paula Badosa. The Spaniard has been sidelined since Wimbledon with a recurring back injury, a psoas tear affecting her lower back and hip. She missed the entire North American hard-court swing, including the Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open, and the US Open. Earlier in the season, she also withdrew from Indian Wells, Miami, and her home event in Madrid. The Asian swing finally offered hope as she returned with a straight-sets win over Antonia Ruzic. But another setback has struck.

On Sunday, Badosa faced Karolina Muchova. What started well soon unraveled in the first set. She was playing her first tournament since her first-round loss at Wimbledon. But this comeback turned heartbreaking. Trailing 4-2, Badosa walked off the court in tears, unable to continue.

As reported by edgeAI on X, “Paula Badosa retired at 2-4 down in set 1 vs Karolina Muchova. Took an MTO for a left thigh / groin injury and couldn’t continue. Was crying during the 6th game. Tough scenes.” Fans couldn’t stand to see yet another painful blow for the star.

One fan wrote under the post, “her body hates her,” capturing the frustration she has endured these past two years. Badosa’s waves of injury began in 2023 when she suffered a stress fracture in her back, specifically the L4/L5 vertebrae. That forced her out of the last five months of the season. She later had to battle a psoas tear in 2025, only adding to her struggles.

Now, after another heartbreaking retirement at the China Open, Paula and her fans are left with a bitter pill to swallow.

Fans express concern for Paula Badosa following withdrawal

Following the incident, one fan wrote, “She should take an extended break from tennis,” suggesting Badosa may have returned too soon. The Spaniard had already pulled out of the US Open after slipping out of the Top 10 rankings. That drop came after her first-round loss at Wimbledon to Katie Boulter. “These are really challenging times for me but I’m staying hopeful that things will turn around soon and the light at the end of the tunnel will start to shine through,” Badosa said back then. She also revealed the injury had happened before Wimbledon.

Badosa’s 2025 season has been a stop-start struggle. A recurrence of her long-standing back problems, this time a psoas muscle tear connecting the lower back to the leg, has derailed her campaign. The chronic injury set off a wave of retirements and withdrawals as early as February. She retired mid-match in the Merida quarterfinals, then pulled out of Indian Wells and Madrid.

At Wimbledon, a first-round loss proved costly. The psoas tear then forced her to miss the entire North American swing, including the Canadian Open, Cincinnati, and the US Open. As one fan summed it up with heartbreak: “Another injury! Huge disappointment for her. 💔”

Fans, used to seeing setbacks block her momentum, have started voicing a pattern they noticed. One put it bluntly: “For whatever reason, her team doesn’t have the answers to what’s happening in her body, better look elsewhere and quickly, she’s too young for this S, to not be resolved as of yet!” What she does have, though, is loyalty. A tight-knit team that refuses to leave her side.

That support showed in Madrid. When Paula pulled out of the Madrid Open at the last moment, she turned to fans on Instagram. “Hey everyone, I wanted to let you know that unfortunately I won’t be able to play Mutua Madrid Open. I’ve tried to do everything possible until the last moment because you know how excited I am to play at home, but it’s being a complicated injury. I hope to be 100% soon,” she wrote. The news came just a few days after she had posted, full of anticipation, about being ready to “crank up the pulse” in Madrid.

Her coach, Pol Toledo Bague, quickly stepped in to lift her spirits. On his IG story, he shared a photo of Paula with a powerful message: “Resilience is understood as the ability of the human being to face the adversities of life, overcome them and be positively transformed by them.” The exchange was a reminder of their rock-solid bond, even amid setbacks.

Still, one more blow makes the road tougher. Badosa has been wrestling not just with injuries but with her on-court form as well. Fans feel the frustration. “Feel sorry for Paula Badosa…. It’s something all the time,” one fan wrote. The question hangs in the air: will she bounce back? Only time has the answer. Share your thoughts in the comments below!