Body versus World Standing - Katie Boulter's Australian Open Predicament
Britain's Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "pick between my physical health and my ranking" as the competition carries on for a position in next January's Australian Open main event.
While the regular WTA Tour tournament schedule is completed, there are still position points to be won in Latin American countries, neighboring countries, various venues and France.
The women's participant roster for the initial Grand Slam of the forthcoming season will be based on the international positions of early December, which could create a difficult choice for athletes close to the selection threshold.
Injury Concerns
Previous British leading competitor Boulter tore an hip muscle in her concluding competition of the year in international locations last month, and is now evaluating whether to compete in the WTA 125 Challenger event in Angers, France, in the opening days of December.
The athlete's ongoing health concern, and the reality she would need to achieve at least multiple victories in Angers to improve her position, means she may well end up not competing.
Different Systems
In contrast, men's competitors are not confronting the identical dilemma, as for the initial instance the men's Australian Open entry list will be drawn up from current week's positions, which is the ATP's official year-end ranking date.
The change is intended to deterring athletes from pursuing position points during what is fundamentally the rest interval.
Training Transitions
This period has been a difficult one for Boulter.
She won only fourteen Tour-level primary competition matches and recently split with coach Biljana Veselinovic after a lengthy partnership in which she captured several WTA championships.
"Biljana is an outstanding instructor, and an remarkably good individual as well, which makes things particularly challenging," Boulter said.
The pursuit for a different trainer is actively progressing, looking for someone who has elite experience as Boulter maintains the belief she can be a elite-level player.
Future Goals
"Moving ahead with a new coach, a key aspect I'm very clear on is that they are going to be an individual who has extensive knowledge in how to make it to the very top level of this profession," she explained.
"I've been ranked as high as twenty-three and I know I can get back there. I am not convinced my standard has gone anywhere, I think the reliability must enhance.
"My goal is not to be placed 50, 40, thirty, twenty - we've achieved that. The aim is to be inside the top twenty."