Tennis star reveals the painful mistake she made while preparing for the Australian Open
Renata Zarazua took to Instagram to reveal the painful-looking results of how much damage the Australian sun can do to a person’s skin.
The Mexican tennis player has been preparing for next week’s Australian Open by competing at the Hobart International this week.
Despite advancing through the qualifiers of the tournament to reach the round of 16, it appears the world No 80 has been feeling the heat in Tasmania this week.
The 28-year-old took to Instagram to publish an image of her back, showing that she had suffered multiple sunburns.
Her shoulders were covered in sore-looking burns, with the Mexican captioning the image: ‘The Australian sun is no joke.’
Temperatures across parts of Victoria have soared into the mid-40s in the past few days. In Tasmania, temperatures haven’t quite reached the same heights, topping out at around 26°C in the past week.
Renata Zarazua took to Instagram on Tuesday to reveal that she had suffered multiple painful-looking sunburns on her back while preparing for the Australian Open
The Mexican tennis star is set to compete in the main draw of the women’s singles next week
However, Tasmania’s UV ratings have risen to between eight and 11 on the UV index scale in recent days, which is considered to be ‘very high’.
Zarazua surpassed Hiroko Kuwata in straight sets on Saturday in her first qualifying match before besting Simona Waltert 6-4 6-3 in her second qualifying clash.
The Mexican was taken the distance by US star Hailey Baptiste, but after losing a first set tiebreak, she would advance to the round of 16.
She’ll now face off against 18-year-old American Iva Jovic tomorrow afternoon.
Next week, Zarazua will compete in her third Australian Open. The Mexican reached the second round in the Women’s singles, but was knocked out by No 4 seed Jasmine Paolini.
Zarazua capped off 2025 in style, winning the Austin 125 in November to bank A$22,454 in prize money. It came after she had also bested Aussie duo Olivia Gadecki and Emerson Jones to win the WTT W100 in Georgia in October.
Her biggest win of the year came when she bested defending Australian Open champion Maddison Keys at the US Open.
It made her the first Mexican tennis player to beat a top-10 seeded opponent since 1995.
She has been competing at the Hobart Invitational in the past week, with UV levels in Tasmania rising to ‘very high’ and ‘extreme’ ratings on the index
However, she later revealed that she contemplated not turning up for the match due to nerves.
‘I swear, I don’t know what happened to me today,’ Zarazua said.
‘I was just so nervous before going on court. I woke up, and I just had the urge to cry.
‘It was almost like I was afraid of taking the court, and that’s never happened to me before.
‘I was like, how is this possible? This is what I love to do. How can I transform this fear into something?
‘I spoke to my mum and I was almost crying. I didn’t want to go on court at all, and I told her that.
‘She said, ‘You have to be the professional that you are. You have to go out there and give everything.’
‘And I did, but it was very tough to go out there.’