Paula Badosa gave credit to Rafael Nadal for encouraging her to believe and stay aggressive against Harriet Dart Badosa, ranked at No 13 in the world, came from a set down to beat 98th-ranked Dart at the United Cup 6-7 (6) 7-6 (5) 6-1.
Nadal, who is also representing Spain at the United Cup, was very vocal on the Spanish bench during the Badosa and Dart match. In the end, Nadal’s efforts weren’t for nothing as Badosa beat Dart in a match that lasted over three hours.
“Well, he’s very into the matches. I really appreciate that. Yeah, he’s very supportive. Yeah, I mean, a little bit of the game, stay aggressive. He was really going, like, telling me, like, stay very aggressive, especially with my forehand, with the serve.
That was a little bit what I was trying. As well I was a little bit tired, so I had to go more for the shots. So, yeah, he was just very supportive and saying that to me,” Badosa said of Nadal, per Sportskeeda.
With the help of Nadal, Badosa beats Dart
On the first day of the Spain and Great Britain tie, Nadal lost to Cameron Norrie while Nuria Parrizas-Diaz was beaten by Katie Swan.
After those two losses, Spain found itself in a very uncomfortable spot and trailing 2-0 to Great Britain. Going into the third match of the tie, Badosa knew she needed to beat Dart in order to keep Spain’s hopes of beating Great Britain.
Badosa did manage to get the point for Spain but Spain’s hopes of beating Great Britain ended after Albert Ramos-Vinolas lost to Dan Evans in the fourth match. In the fifth match of the tie, Dart and Jonny O’Mara defeated Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and David Vega Hernandez to seal a 4-1 victory for Great Britain. In the end, Badosa’s victory over Dart turned out to be Spain’s lone win in their tie against Great Britain.
