Wimbledon 2023: Paula Badosa forced to correct reporter amid awkward press conference

If Paula Badosa thought she was having a tough day on the court, imagine how she felt when she got off it after this exchange with a reporter.

Paula Badosa had to sit through an awkward interview.

If was a tough day at Wimbledon for former World No. 2 Paula Badosa, who had to retire from her match with Marta Kostyuk early in the second set.

But her frustrations were only just beginning, with the Spanish star then forced to sit through an awkward press conference back and forth with a reporter who clearly hadn’t paid too much attention to her match.

The reporter jumped in with the first question of the press conference and had one key detail wrong.

“Congratulations on your win,” he started.

It was then a bemused Badosa tried to set the record straight, informing him, “I lost.”

But even that didn’t stop the reporter from trying to get out his question.

“You missed some matches because of injury. Could you please tell us about your fitness and confidence level please?

“For your information I just lost. I didn’t win. So, um, yeah.”

When the interviewer thinks you've won... but you didn't 😬

This was one awkward press conference for Paula Badosa #Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/sz7UrATG8p

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 7, 2023

At this point, a Wimbledon moderator had to step in and make it crystal clear to the journalist what had happened.

It wasn’t the only awkward encounter, with Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka asked:

“You obviously want to play well here. I know you want to do one or two better than you did last year…”

Sabalenka was actually absent from the 2022 event because of the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Andy Murray admitted he doesn’t know if he will be back at Wimbledon next year after a heart-breaking second round loss to world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday.

Two-time champion Murray went down 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (2/7), 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 after a gruelling four-hour 40-minute match-up.

The defeat means 36-year-old Murray has not made the second week of a Grand Slam since reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2017.

Aryna Sabalenka is back at Wimbledon in 2023. Picture: Getty Images

It will also raise questions over his long-term future in the sport despite valiant attempts to rebuild his career following two hip surgeries.

“I don’t know,” said Murray when asked if he would be back at the All England Club next year.

“Motivation is obviously a big thing. Continuing having early losses in tournaments like this don’t necessarily help with that.” He admitted that a second round defeat at Wimbledon to John Isner last year had prompted a similar bout of soul-searching.

“I had a long think about things, spoke to my family, decided to keep on going. “I don’t plan to stop right now. But this one will take a little while to get over.

“Hopefully I will find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better.”

Originally published as Wimbledon 2023: Paula Badosa forced to correct reporter amid awkward press conference