Maria Sharapova was recently moved to happy tears as Paula Badosa sent her a heartwarming message. After the duo met each other for the first time ever at the SP Open, they posed for a photo together and the Spaniard penned a sweet note for her lifelong idol.
Sharapova and Badosa are two of the biggest names of the WTA. While the Russian was one of the foremost stars of the Tour for two decades between 2001 and 2020, Badosa established herself as a top player in recent years. Over the course of her career, the Spaniard has been vocal about drawing inspiration from Sharapova, and the duo recently met each other in Brazil.
Taking to Instagram to share a snap of their meeting, Paula Badosa wrote,
“Some people inspire you from afar, and then you get lucky enough to meet them. Today was one of those moments. You’re simply amazing @mariasharapova. Little Paula made a dream come true today.”
Reacting to the sweet note, Maria Sharapova reacted with three ‘teary-eyed’ emojis.
In Brazil, Badosa is currently competing at the SP Open, a WTA 250 event. The second seed has enjoyed smooth sailing at the tournament so far, ousting the likes of Justina Mikulskyte, Jazmin Ortenzi and Mary Stoiana to reach the semifinal.
When Paula Badosa opened up about Maria Sharapova being her role model
Over the years, Paula Badosa has been vocal about looking up to Maria Sharapova as an idol during her childhood, admiring the Russian for her on-court exploits and her off-court personality that went beyond tennis.
In a 2020 interview with Tweener Head Tennis, Badosa hailed Sharapova as her role model, explaining,
“I have to be honest with you, she’s like a role model to me, so I try to copy her. She’s a fighter, so I really like that and as a Spanish player I really like that. Since (I was) young, that’s what they put in your mind – to fight every point – so I think that’s very important. Her game is very aggressive. We don’t play similar (games) but I try to be aggressive in my way as well.”
On the tennis end of things, Paula Badosa will next return to action for her semifinal encounter at the SP Open, where she will take on Nadia Podoroska. Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova was last seen on a tennis court at the US Open, where she presented women’s singles champion Elena Rybakina with her winner’s trophy.
Edited by Riddhi Acharya
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