It has been 10 months since Paula Badosa was informed by her doctors that her career might be over. During the 2023 tennis season, not long after she had stood as the No 2 player in the world, Badosa suffered a debilitating stress fracture in her back that had left her in significant pain and forced her to withdraw from every grand slam tournament that year. By last March, the 27 year-old was fighting for her career.

The initial resolution was cortisone injections to manage the immediate pain and inflammation, allowing her to return to the tour even though her long-term future remained uncertain. She has used her time back in the sport incredibly well. Having spent the past nine months faithfully re-establishing her spot among the elite, Badosa broke completely new ground on Tuesday by reaching the semi-final of a grand slam tournament for the first time in her career.

In the tension-filled final moments of one of the biggest matches of her career, Badosa brilliantly held her nerve to upset Coco Gauff, the third seed and one of the tournament favourites, closing out a brilliant 7-5, 6-4 win.

“I’m a bit emotional,” said Badosa, the 11th seed, afterwards. “I’m a very emotional person and overcoming something like this, the last slam, the quarter-finals were very tough. Today, I came in, I wanted to play my best tennis. I did it. Coco, at the beginning, she was playing insane tennis. I’m super proud of the level I gave today.”

As she struggled to find a way back to professional tennis, Badosa fell out of the top 100 last year, dropping as low as No 140 in May. She has made a remarkable comeback since then, compiling a run of extremely consistent results and few poor losses. With one of the best results of her career, Badosa will also return to the top 10 for the first time since 2022.

A former junior French Open champion, Badosa struggled with depression and mental health issues during her early years on the professional circuit. She eventually began her rise up the rankings in 2021, reaching No 2 a year later. Even at the height of her success, Badosa struggled under pressure in the grand slam tournaments. Until last year’s US Open, where she reached the quarter-finals, she had only ever reached one major quarter-final.

For Gauff, this disappointing performance underlines the significant work still to be done in order to completely shore up her weaknesses. After ending the 2024 season by winning the second biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals, Gauff started 2025 playing the best tennis of her career as she defeated Iga Swiatek, her former nemesis, in an extremely high quality match. She entered the Australian Open as the most in-form player in the draw.

Her level, however, had not been as high in Melbourne. While significant improvements to her serve and particularly her forehand have driven her recent success, her forehand capitulated against Badosa. Gauff struggled to land routine forehands for much of the match and she ended the match with 28 unforced errors compared to just seven from her backhand. It was by far the worst shot on the court.

Despite performing so far beneath the standards she sets in less important matches, Gauff took the defeat in her stride. “I think it’s one of those things that maybe a couple of years ago I would feel a lot more crushed and feel like the world is ending-type sadness, but now I think it’s just disappointed that I could have done a little bit better in some areas. I tried my best with what I had today, and that’s all I can do,” she said.

Against her struggling opponent, Badosa played an extremely smart match. She remained consistent early on in both sets, drawing out forehand errors from Gauff with her shot tolerance and defence, but she closed out both sets playing bold attacking tennis. Badosa broke serve at 5-5 in the first set with a brilliant return game that included three winners. Then, as Gauff retrieved one of Badosa’s two breaks and threatened to pull herself back into the match, Badosa responded with an excellent hold at the close, lasering a forehand winner to seal an immense victory.

“A year ago, I was here with my back that I didn’t know if I was going to retire from this sport,” said Badosa. “Now I’m here, playing against the best in the world. I won today, I’m in the semi-finals. I would never think that a year after, I would be here.”