“It was 5-1, but I never felt ‘myself’ in the court,” Badosa admitted. “I didn’t feel serving well, playing well from the baseline. That’s my biggest strength. I think today it surprised me because I was playing pretty good the other matches, I was feeling good. But when I walked into the court, I think I didn’t match well the situation or the emotions.
“It was a bit hard to handle for me. I wanted to win so much that sometimes that doesn’t help at all.”
Read More: Don’t Stop Believing: How Paula Badosa flipped retirement script into first US Open quarterfinal
And while Badosa couldn’t find the answers on court, she could hardly find the words to sum up the disappointment afterward as the Spaniard—who was born in Manhattan and grew up in Barcelona—got her languages mixed up toward the end of her English press conference:
Q. Are you the kind of person who will think about what happened today and why you weren’t able to perform, or just try and put it out of your mind and forget about it?
\PAULA BADOSA: No, I’m the first one, I’m very obsessive, and I think about the things and I don’t like to make the same mistake two times. \
That’s also what brought me where I am, but maybe also I will think about it too much. My team will help me, like, not to, how do you say…?
Q. Obsess?
PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, myself, how to distract myself. I even forgot how to speak English today. Imagine. (smiling).
What a day, man. Can I go to sleep? (smiling)
