🔗 Share this article

Britain's Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "pick between my physical condition and my professional position" as the race continues for a position in the upcoming January Australian Open main event.

While the typical WTA Tour season is completed, there are still ranking points to be won in South American nations, regional locations, multiple sites and France.

The women's competitor lineup for the opening Grand Slam of the upcoming season will be calculated from the global standings of the December cutoff, which could present a challenging situation for athletes approaching the cut.

Physical Setbacks

Ex- British number one Boulter experienced an hip muscle in her final event of the year in international locations last month, and is now weighing up whether to play in the WTA 125 development competition in European venues, France, in the first week of December.

Boulter's recent injury, and the reality she would need to secure at least several wins in the French tournament to improve her position, means she may well ultimately not participating.

Contrasting Methods

In comparison, male athletes are not confronting the same dilemma, as for the initial instance the male Australian Open participant roster will be drawn up from this week's standings, which is the ATP's standard year-end standing calculation.

The modification is intended to deterring players from chasing ranking points during what is basically the break period.

Training Transitions

This period has been a challenging one for Boulter.

She won only 14 Tour-level main-draw matches and recently split with trainer Biljana Veselinovic after a lengthy working relationship in which she secured three WTA titles.

"Biljana is an incredible instructor, and an remarkably quality person as well, which creates situations extremely hard," Boulter commented.

The quest for a replacement trainer is well under way, looking for an individual who has top-tier experience as Boulter maintains the belief she can be a world-class player.

Career Objectives

"Progressing with a new coach, one thing I'm very clear on is that they are going to be a professional who has a lot of experience in how to make it to the very top level of this game," she stated.

"I've been positioned as advanced as twenty-three and I know I can climb back to that position. I don't think my standard has gone anywhere, I believe the reliability must develop.

"My goal is not simply to be ranked 50, forty, thirty, 20 - we've achieved that. The objective is to be within 20."