Paula Badosa suffered from cramps during her season opener, but luckily a dose of pickle juice saved the day for the Spanish tennis star. Midway through the second set of her three-hour win over Harriet Dart, Badosa began to experience cramps.
Badosa called the trainer and received treatment and a dose of pickle juice.
The magic of pickle juice 🥤 🪄
to see how @PaulaBadosa see an immediate effect after suffering from cramps in the #UnitedCup! pic.twitter.com/QHEvcedPVE – Tennis Television (@TennisTV) January 1, 2023
In the end, Badosa created a comeback to overcome Dart 6-7 (6) 7-6 (5) 6-1 in just over three hours of play.
«It was a strange sensation, because the truth is that I started to feel it at the last point of the 2-1. [game]. I served well at the time, and then I started cramping. I was a bit surprised, because I had a very good preseason.
But I think that was not the reason. I think he was very nervous. I was also very tight. First game of the season. I play with a lot of emotions, so yeah, that’s a big problem for me,» Badosa said, according to the WTA website.
Badosa: Gherkin juice saved the day
«I took the pickle juice, I started to loosen up my body a little bit. I think that also helped me play a little looser and more aggressive. But, yeah, it was a bit of a surprise to me, because I don’t often get cramps.» Badosa added.
Badosa trailed by two breaks in the first set before surprisingly coming back to take a 6-5 lead. After recovering from two breaks, Badosa held two set points on Dart’s serve in game 12, but went unnoticed when the first set ended in a tiebreaker, in which Dart grabbed her second set point to win a match. tight first game.
In the second set, Badosa was three times up by break but Dart rallied three times to force another tie-break. But this time, Badosa started the tiebreaker with a 5-0 lead before converting her second set point to send the match to a decisive decision. After winning the second set, Badosa broke Dart twice in the third set to complete a comeback.
