This week feels like a miraculous bonus episode to Paula Badosa’s season.    In August she officially gave up on any hope of playing for the rest of this year, announcing she was calling time on it. The cause was a spinal stress fracture, which has kept the former world No 2 sidelined since Wimbledon. Throughout months of rehab and ongoing pain, she lost all hope of returning to the court at all in 2023.    But, finally, the work she was putting in behind the scenes paid off, and her reward is an appearance at the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals on home soil in Seville.   “It’s a mix of emotions, it has been a very tough year for me,” Badosa tells billiejeankingcup.com. “Finally coming back to play here, playing in front of my crowd at home, as a team – I love to play for Spain, so for me it’s very special.”   Badosa, 25, missed three of the four majors this year through injury. The back problem was mainly to blame, and cropped up for the first time at the Italian Open.    Though she recovered enough to play at Wimbledon, she had to make the painful decision to pull out of her second round match, as well as mixed doubles, and spent the entire summer making every effort to get back to top physical shape.    Badosa had hoped to play at the US Open in August, and had been due to face Venus Williams in the first round, but she had to withdraw when her recovery stalled again. Throughout these difficult months she tried to keep the faith, but says it was hard.   “Honestly, it’s been very tough,” she added “I was working every day we had with the physio. We were looking for me to play earlier, but my back wasn’t responding in a good way, so I had to be very patient.    “I never stopped completely. I was all day in physio and rehabbing. Finally all of a sudden one day I didn’t feel the pain anymore. So it was amazing news for me. That’s when I started to play tennis again.”

Her timely recovery means she joins Sara Sorribes Tormo, Rebeka Masarova, Cristina Bucsa and Marina Bassols Ribera on the Spain team aiming for glory in Seville. They will play in Group C, facing Canada on Wednesday 8 November and Poland two days later.    Spain's captain Anabel Medina Garrigues says it has been a huge boost to have a player of Badosa's calibre available.    “It's a big surprise because, as everybody knows, she was announcing that she finished the season," Medina Garrigues says.   "But when she called me and she said that she was feeling better, that she didn't have pain, that she was starting to practice and she had good feelings, and that she wants to be in the team it was really good news.    "Of course, everybody knows who Paula is, her level. She couldn’t play this year because she was injured, but her level is super high. Having her in the team is very good news.”   A combination of factors over the years have stopped Badosa from being available to play for her country, and she only made her debut in 2022.    This is her second nomination for Spain, but she had a standout singles win over reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina during last November's Finals in Glasgow.   She says the sense of pride she feels representing Spain is unlike anything else in tennis and continues to take inspiration from her country's golden era 30 years ago, when Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez helped the team to five titles in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1998. Their legacy motivates the current team to aim high, Badosa says, and she dreams of lifting the trophy herself.   “Arantxa and Conchita have always been an example for me,” Badosa says. “When I was a little girl I always wanted to be like them, to be one of the best of the world. Like them, of course I would love to win a Billie Jean King Cup one day.    “I think we have a good team with me, Sara, Rebeka, Marina and Cristina, so we’re working very hard for it. Let’s see if one day we can achieve that.”