European Games women’s singles bronze medallist in 2015, Beatriz Corrales, is a significant member of the successful Spanish women’s generation who won the bronze medal at both European Women’s Team Championships in Kazan, 2016 and 2018.
Corrales, 27, partakes in a BEC question and answer interview to give fans a detailed overview of her career thus far.
Last year has unfortunately been quite injury-filled for you. What is the status for you at the moment?
- It was just the one on my knee, but it was very difficult to deal with. I was starting to play in competitions with the Spanish team and with my club Chambly in France at the beginning of this year, just before COVID-19 blocked the situation, so after more than one year of pain, I finally had surgery, finding out what was going on with my knee. I was starting to get closer to the ‘out of pain feeling’ that I almost didn’t remember. Now, I am just leaving behind this difficult situation for any player and I will keep playing with my team from Milan, looking towards my goals and the most important, enjoy playing badminton again.
What does your current day to day look like in these odd times?
- I am trying to keep in shape doing physical work in Madrid and, probably, starting to practice on court soon, step by step, following the government guidance. When it is going to be allowed travelling to Milan, I’ll go back there to keep working with the Italian group at the National Centre.
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Many good experiences
At what point in your career has it been the hardest?
- Probably, the hardest part has been at a personal level, where it is more complex to adapt to new conditions both for me and for other people too. Regarding badminton, I was coming after a long period of being injured so I could not make any specific tournament plan because it all depends on my physical condition and development. So, I think that this situation with the virus has been quite similar to it. Honestly, it hasn’t been very difficult to manage myself and the way I could keep moving on with my coaches.
Looking at your career until now. What has been the best moment for you?
- I cannot say just one moment. There are many good experiences shared with my teammates around the world. Some nice victories, winning some international tournaments, also with the Spanish team and, of course, the titles with Chambly in the French League. For me, they have been special, not because of just taking the trophy or getting the title but because of what there is behind the success, that is, the knowledge of the big effort of every person involved in it, many of whom operated ‘behind the scenes’.
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The beautiful city of Madrid
What title are you most happy to have won?
- Again, I can’t say just one, it’s has been a process, the ones what are coming to my mind now are 2011 European silver medal U19; 2012 Portugal Series (my first senior title); 2013 Madrid; 2013-2014 Orleans; 2016 Brazil Open; two bronze medals (2016-2018) with the Spanish women’s team at the European Team Championships; the six titles in a row French league titles (2014-2019) with my club Chambly.
What single victory means the most to you?
Madrid challenge 2013 because I was close to my family and friends in the beautiful city of Madrid, my hometown.
Do you have the belief that you can climb back up the rankings and win another title before you retire?
- I’ve never been so focused on winning titles, instead, I’ve tried my best to keep focused on my performance, sometimes, I will get titles, sometimes not, because the nice thing about badminton, in my opinion, is that it’s a competition with many elements involved in the game, and, sometimes, the opponent is just better than you. So, there is no way to know if I could win again or not, I’m not interested in guessing that, I’m more interested to keep enjoying as I always had, working hard with my team to reach the performance goals we set.