This time last year, Paula Badosa was comtemplating the unwelcome prospect of early retirement and life after tennis as she struggled with a debilitating back injury.
Fast forward 12 months and the resurgent Spaniard is into her maiden major semi-final after sending in-form American Coco Gauff crashing out in a big Australian Open upset.
Once ranked as high as No.2 in the world, the 11th-seeded Badosa
declared she was now playing better than ever after sending Gauff packing 7-5 6-4.
The No.3 seed from the US had been riding a 13-match winning streak but it counted for nought as Badosa claimed the only break of serve in the 11th game of the first set.
Badosa, 27, went up two breaks in the second set and overcame a few jittery moments before closing out the match in one hour and 43 minutes.
The prize for Badosa is a maiden grand slam semi-final, where she will take on either two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
"I'm never going to feel freedom until I win the tournament," she said.
"I'm always like this. It's my personality. It's my character.
"Today, of course, maybe I had a little bit less expectations, but I still had pressure because I wanted to win so badly.
I will step on the court in the semi-finals, I don't care against who, and I will want to win so badly."
It was a stress fracture of the L4/L5 vertebrae that raised the prospect of premature retirement for Badosa early last year.
"It wasn't recovering well," she said.
"The facet joints were inflamed all the time. Every time I was doing exercises, I had to stop because it wasn't responding well.
"... It was a mix of my back, mentally and everything else.
"That was the moment I was thinking maybe I'm not made for being back again. I was doubting a lot."
Badosa's previous best results at the majors were quarter-finals at the 2021 French Open and last year's US Open.
Both she and Gauff had only dropped only one set in their previous four matches at Melbourne Park.
"As you know, I'm a very emotional person," said Badosa.
"I came in, I wanted to play my best game and I think I did it.
"Coco at the beginning, she was playing insane tennis, but I'm super proud of the level I gave today."
Gauff was hampered by a string of unforced errors, many on her forehand.
"Obviously it's tough right afterwards and I'm still disappointed," said the American, who won her maiden major title at the 2023 US Open and reached the semis last year at the Australian and French Opens.
"I think the way I played, even though it wasn't my best, I gave it my all on the court, so that's something to be proud of.
I fought until the end."
