As the enamored crowd at Rod Laver Arena looked on, Paula Badosa fell to her knees.

She stayed on the ground for a moment as she leaned over with her arms outstretched. She had just beaten Coco Gauff, the No. 3 seed and clear match favorite, in a decisive 7-5, 6-4 victory and had advanced to the first major semifinals of her career.

The moment meant everything.

While it had seemed like an inevitability for Badosa at one point earlier in her career, this breakthrough came after a debilitating back injury left her future in the sport in doubt. When Badosa played at this tournament 12 months ago, she was uncertain about how much longer she would be able to continue playing as she was simply unable to get the pain under control.

“[But] now I’m here playing against the best in the world,” Badosa said. “I won today, 1737539518 I’m in the semifinals. I would never think a year [later] I would be here.”

And on Thursday, Badosa, the former world No. 2, will have a chance to reach her first Slam final in a semifinal clash against two-time defending champion — and one of her closest friends — Aryna Sabalenka. It’s a daunting task but one that Badosa is ready for.

“I’ve been through a lot,” Badosa said Tuesday. “I was in the past one of the best players in the world, but I think now I’m a better player, more mature. I think I manage the emotions a little bit better … For me, this is a dream come true.”

Few who saw Badosa’s rise through the junior ranks would be surprised by her current run in Melbourne. Born in New York but raised in Spain, Badosa won the French Open girls title in 2015, and her talent was on full display from a young age.

After some time primarily on the ITF Tour once she turned professional, Badosa, now 27, made her major main draw debut at the Australian Open in 2019 and cracked the top 100 for the first time later that season. By 2021, she had reached her first major quarterfinals at the French Open, and won what remains the biggest title of her career at the 1000-level Indian Wells. Her ranking soared — reaching No. 2 in April of 2022 — and with it she became one of the most recognizable players on tour.

But things took a dramatic turn in 2023 when she suffered a stress fracture in her back. She played sparingly during the season and ultimately, after having to retire during her second-round match at Wimbledon, her only Slam appearance of the year, she was forced to shut down her season.

“Those of you who know me know how much I like to compete and how difficult it has been to make this decision,” she wrote on Instagram after withdrawing from the US Open in August of that year. “We have tried everything together with my team, but the pain is not letting me move forward.”

Badosa returned in time for the start of 2024 season but admitted it was a “process to come back” when speaking to reporters at the Australian Open. She reached the third round. But the pain hadn’t subsidized. In an interview on the WTA Insider Podcast, Badosa said her doctors told it would be “very complicated to continue [her] career” during a consultation in March after she had withdrawn from Indian Wells. But they began taking cortisone shots in a last-ditch effort — something her medical team called her “only option” — and the shots allowed her to continue to play.

But even with the pain somewhat managed, the results she had become accustomed to simply weren’t coming. She also knew she could only have three injections of cortisone throughout the year — she had received her second one in April — and after a challenging clay-court season, it made her doubt her future in the sport.

“There was one point of last year that I was pretty close [to retiring] because I wasn’t seeing myself at the level,” Badosa told reporters after defeating Gauff on Tuesday. “The back wasn’t responding well, and I didn’t find solutions. But I wanted to give it a last try, a last chance to finish the year and let’s see how it would go.

“And well, here I am. So, I’m really proud of what we went through with all my team and especially how I fought through all that, especially mentally.”

Badosa made some changes after a first-round loss in April in Madrid which saw her ranking tumble out of the top 100. Believing everything she did related to her back, she brought in a new fitness coach and a new nutritionist. They gave her exercises to help strengthen her back, as well as different supplements to take and food to eat that could ease inflammation. She began consulting with new doctors. She saw improvements and “the puzzle started to look better.” She took her last cortisone shot in the spring and hasn’t needed one since.

Initially, she had to fight off a lingering fear that she would wake up one morning and the pain would be back. But she persevered. Badosa reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in July and then went on to win the title — her first in over two-and-a-half-years — at the Washington Open in July. There was a semifinal appearance in Cincinnati and then a quarterfinal run at the US Open, marking her best-ever result at the major.

Badosa ended the season ranked at No. 12 and she was named the WTA’s 2024 Comeback Player of the Year in December. It was something she had wanted all year, and it gave her confidence heading into the new season.

“Do I feel like I’m back where I belong? Yeah, of course,” Badosa said on Tuesday. “I mean since I came back last year here in Australia, my goal, I set it here last January, I wanted to be the Comeback Player of the Year. I achieved that. And when I started this year, I also said I want to be one of the best players in the world and prove that, show that and be consistent. So that’s my goal for this year.”

Badosa didn’t know if she would be facing Sabalenka or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova when she spoke to reporters after her win over Gauff. But she still answered many questions about Sabalenka, the current world No. 1. The two, who frequently post about their friendship on social media, have been among one another’s biggest supporters in recent years.

When Sabalenka’s former partner Konstantin Koltsov died from an apparent suicide days before the start of the Miami Open in March, it was Badosa that became Sabalenka’s unofficial spokesperson and talked to the media when Sabalenka declined. Even as the two prepared to play one another in a round-of-64 meeting, Badosa provided insight on how Sabalenka was doing. Sabalenka won the match and Badosa was full of praise for her friend afterwards. “She’s a very, very strong woman, strong personality,” Badosa said.

When Badosa was forced to retire in the third set from a tight match against Sabalenka at Stuttgart in April, she cried as they hugged and Sabalenka tried to console her.

“I love Paula very much,” Sabalenka said in her news conference after the match. “We have been friends for three or four years. She is an incredible person. It is very important to have friends on the circuit, so when you find someone who you feel is your soulmate, it is the best thing that can happen to you.”

The friends — known collectively by tennis fans as “Sabadosa” — have played once since, with Sabalenka earning a 7-5, 6-1 victory in the third round at the French Open to hold a 5-2 series edge in their career head-to-head.

On Thursday, they will have to put away their admiration for one another for yet another day. Badosa was excited for the possibility after her win on Tuesday and called it a “normal” experience at this point. Badosa said they typically message each other before matches but would be expecting a “battle.”

Sabalenka however couldn’t hide her excitement for Badosa.

“She’s a great player and she’s been through a lot and now she’s back on her best game,” Sabalenka said after her three-set victory over Pavlyuchenkova. “I’m really happy to see that. And yeah, I saw her games here. She’s playing really great tennis.”

No matter what happens in the semifinal showdown, Badosa will leave Melbourne having returned to the top 10 for the first time since 2022. With all of her health challenges, she has repeatedly said she now tries to appreciate everything more and “soak it all in.” Against Gauff, she said she tried to enjoy everything about the match, and the crowd and the aftermath. Having spent so much time away from competition, she’s grateful for it all.

But make no mistake: Badosa still wants to win and knows what she’s capable of.

“I am never going to feel freedom until I win the tournament,” she said. “I’m always like this and it’s my personality, it’s my character. Today [against Gauff], of course, maybe I had a little bit less expectations, but I still had pressure because I wanted to win so badly.

“I’ll step on the court in the semifinals, I don’t care against who and I’ll want to win so badly. That’s [just] part of me.”