The current generation of WTA stars know where they came from, and Billie Jean King and the Original 9 have a fan in Paula Badosa.
Badosa, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 2 in the WTA rankings last year, recently opened up in an interview with Glamour magazine in Spain where she lauded the great champion and her trailblazing peers, and how they paved the road towards gender equality in tennis.
"Everything that Billie Jean King has done for us and continues to do is impressive, fighting to equalize men's and women's tennis," Badosa said. "The truth is that they have done a great job, especially her with a group of great former players. We thank [them] very much. We are still fighting for [equality] today, but I think we are on the right track."
The 25-year-old, born in New York City to Spanish fashion models but raised in Barcelona, is at her most authentic when she stars as a featured player in Netflix's tennis documentary series "Break Point," where she speaks candidly on the anxiety and depression she experienced in her late teeange years and early 20s as she transitioned from a highly-touted junior Grand Slam champion to a professional player.
Badosa does so, she says, in the hopes of being a role model for others.
“I’ve been very open in the press and everywhere about my mental health struggles because even the best athlete in the world can feel this," Badosa says in the show. "I’m in a position right now that if I can talk, I can help other people.”
To Glamour, Badosa also spoke about, in addition to King and her legendary fellows, the other inspiration she gets as a modern-day WTA player: from her peers who've come back to top-level tennis after becoming mothers.
"There have been many tennis players who have become mothers. It is something very beautiful," she said. "It is difficult to combine being an athlete, but they have succeeded. ... It is very inspiring to see how tennis players who have just become mothers, in two months, are at their best. That all these things look normal is something very cool."
Badosa's comments are topical in 2023, a year not only in which the US Open is celebrating 50 years of equal prize money for men and women tennis players at the tournament, but that the WTA Tour is celebrating its 50th anniversary. These milestones have been top of mind for current and former WTA players across the year to date, and they've prompted stirring reflections from all.
"The Original 9 were willing to give up our careers for future generations," King said last month during Billie Jean King Cup. "Sometimes you have to give up something to get something. It's a judgment call. But that's what we decided, we didn't care if we ever played again. We were going to get the kids a chance."
