US Open star accused of being 'emotionally overwhelmed' after collapse

Paula Badosa crashed out of the US Open this year.

Paula Badosa has been accused of being ‘emotionally overwhelmed' after being dumped out of the US Open by Emma Navarro. Badosa was knocked out by Navarro in the quarter-finals, with the American triumphing 6-2, 7-5. The contest had looked certain to go the distance after Badosa raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set. But out of nowhere, Navarro emphatically fought back to take a whopping 24 of the last 28 points during the match.

It swung the momentum - and the tie - in the direction of Navarro, who will now take on two-time Grand Slam winner Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals. But according to former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli, Badosa’s shortcomings were all down to letting the emotions of playing in a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time in three years get the better of her. Speaking after the contest, Bartoli told Sky Sports: “Badosa will learn from this. She obviously has never reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam, and I think it’s more emotional than tennis-wise because she has the tennis, the weapons, the fitness levels. “She has the game but emotionally she gets overwhelmed. And she did today in a situation where she was in control.”

Paula Badosa missed the chance to make her first-ever Grand Slam semi-final.

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The Italian continued: “She has to keep working on that because it takes a psychological jump to get over that barrier. She lost that second set purely on that. “Navarro stayed steady but Badosa broke into pieces when she was in control.” It’s a sentiment shared by opponent Navarro, who commented post-match: “Even though she was up 5-1, after that game, I felt like she wasn’t totally confident in her ability to close out that set. “I felt like if I could push back a little bit and make her think a little bit on her service game, maybe I could sneak my way back in there.

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