Spain’s Paula Badosa on Sunday drank to success when she overcame cramping at the United Cup by sipping pickle juice.
Badosa beat the UK’s Harriet Dart 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 in the mixed teams event, but only after calling for an unusual tonic in the second set of the round-robin clash.
“I took the pickle juice and my body started to relax a little bit,” Badosa said. “That’s why I started to play more aggressive, but it was surprising because I don’t usually cramp.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Badosa, watched courtside in Sydney by 22-time major winner and United Cup teammate Rafael Nadal, said that she had previously used pickle water when she cramped during a tournament in Madrid.
It certainly paid off — WTA statistics showed that before she took the pickle juice she was serving an average of 122kph. After, that figure rocketed to 132kph.
Badosa gave Spain their first point of the tie with victory in 3 hours.
However, Dan Evans put things right for the British team, beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to clinch a final four spot, 3-1.
Evans, who had felt poorly coming into the event, said team support from the bench was key.
“I don’t feel my strongest, but we have a great team behind us,” he said after firing an ace on the second match point.
“We’re into the semis, we’ve done unbelievably well on court,” Evans said.
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