Katie_Boulter

Katie Boulter

Katie Boulter

English tennis player (born 1996)


Katie Charlotte Boulter (born 1 August 1996) is a British professional tennis player. On 4 March 2024, she reached her best WTA singles ranking of world No. 27. On 31 December 2018, she peaked at No. 431 in the doubles rankings.[1] She is the current British No. 1 in women's singles.

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She has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour as well as seven singles titles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

Boulter was ranked the No. 10 junior tennis player in the world in March 2014.[2] She is based at the Lawn Tennis Association's National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and was coached by Jeremy Bates, Nigel Sears and Mark Taylor.[3] She is currently coached by Biljana Vesilinovic.

Early life

Boulter was born in Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire,[4][5] the second of two children to David and Susan (née Gartshore) and has an older brother, Alexander. Boulter's mother, Susan, played tennis at county level and represented Great Britain a few times as a junior. Boulter's maternal grandmother, Gill Gartshore (née Dran), was also a county champion tennis player. Boulter herself started playing tennis aged 5,[3] and went on to represent Great Britain three years later, aged 8.[3] She has said that when she was younger, beating her older brother was a motivating factor. "We used to practise together at this local court down the road from our house. It was the only thing I could eventually beat him in, so that felt great."[6]

Boulter played the piano before her tennis career began to take precedence. She also has an interest in fashion and made an appearance in Vogue magazine in 2018.[7]

Personal life

She is a supporter of Leicester City Football Club.[8] Boulter is currently in a relationship with Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur.[9]

Career

2008–2013: Steady rise

Boulter at the 2023 US Open

Following in the path of Anna Kournikova, Boulter showed promise in 2008 when she won the Lemon Bowl in Rome, aged 11.[10] She went on in 2011, aged 14, to become a finalist in the Junior Orange Bowl Tennis Championships in Coral Gables, Florida.[11] Past finalists have included Andy Murray and Caroline Wozniacki. She was awarded the Aegon Junior Player Award that month.[12]

Boulter claimed her first senior doubles title at a $10k event in Sharm El Sheikh in November 2013.[13]

2014: Doubles success, first senior singles title

In January 2014, Boulter went on to have further doubles success and was a finalist at the Australian Open girls' doubles event with Ivana Jorović.[14][15][16] In May 2014, in Sharm El Sheikh, Boulter won her first senior singles title over fellow Briton Eden Silva. She also won the doubles title at the same event partnering Nina Stojanović, to whom she had lost a previous final in singles.[17] A month later, Boulter was given a wild card for Wimbledon qualifying, losing in the first round to Italian Alberta Brianti in a three-set match which lasted two-and-a-half hours.[18]

2018: 2nd round at Wimbledon, top 100 debut

Boulter at the 2018 Surbiton Trophy.

2018 became her most successful tennis year. She won her first $25k singles title at the event in Óbidos, Portugal in April. In May, Boulter then won a further singles title at the $60k event in Fukuoka, Japan. Despite falling in the first round of qualifying for the French Open, Boulter carried her good form into the grass-court season, She received a wild card for the Nottingham Open[19] and reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal there. In July 2018, she received a wildcard into the $100k grass-court event in Southsea, England where she reached the final and fell to Kirsten Flipkens.

She then received a wildcard into the Wimbledon main draw, where she won her first-round match over Veronica Cepede Royg. She lost in the second round to Naomi Osaka, in straight sets.

She ended the year ranked 100th.

2019: Australian Open first win

Boulter during the 2019 Fed Cup.

Boulter began the 2019 season in Hobart, Tasmania where she did not qualify, losing to Greet Minnen in three sets. Her next tournament was the Australian Open. She defeated Ekaterina Makarova, in three sets, with the first instance in the Australian Open of a third-set tiebreak, winning the tiebreak 10–6. However, her run ended in the second round with a straight-set defeat by Aryna Sabalenka.

Her next tournament was the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy during which she defeated Bernarda Pera, Katarina Zavatska and Ysaline Bonaventure in the qualifiers. She then lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets. At the Mexican Open, she defeated Conny Perrin, in straight sets, before retiring to fifth seed Sofia Kenin. At the Miami Open, entering as the sixth qualifying seed, she lost to Marie Bouzková in straight sets.

In April, Boulter suffered a spinal stress fracture while playing for Great Britain in the Fed Cup.[20]

2020–2021: Another Wimbledon win

Boulter at the 2021 Nottingham Open

At the 2020 Australian Open, she lost in the first round to Elina Svitolina. At the 2021 Australian Open, she suffered a first-round loss against Daria Kasatkina. At Wimbledon, she beat qualifier Danielle Lao before she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, in the second round. At the 2021 US Open, she lost in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova.

2022: First top-10 wins, Grand Slam third round

Having won an ITF tournament in February 2022, Boulter had to retire from the WTA event in Lyon in March due to a leg injury.[21]

Boulter missed the clay-court season, but returned at the Nottingham Open in June where she came through qualifying to defeat Tatjana Maria in the first round before losing to Ajla Tomljanović. Granted a wildcard for the Birmingham Classic, she defeated Alison Riske (first top-40 win) and Caroline Garcia,[22] before losing to Simona Halep.[23] At Eastbourne, she was also handed a wildcard and defeated fourth seed and world No. 7, Karolina Plíšková, for her first top-10 win.[24] She lost her last 16 match against Petra Kvitová in three sets.[25]

At Wimbledon, Boulter again upset Plíšková in three sets to advance to the third round of a major for the first time in her career.[26] In round three, Boulter lost to Harmony Tan, in straight sets.[27]

2023: British No. 1, first WTA title, major 3rd rounds

Boulter after winning the final at the Canberra Tennis International (Jan 2023)

Boulter started new season by winning the $60k Canberra International event.

She became the British player No. 1 on 12 June 2023, following a semifinal showing at the Surbiton Trophy.[28] She reached the quarterfinals at the Nottingham Open as one of four British players for a historic first at a WTA event.[29] She went one step further to reach her first WTA Tour semifinal with a win over compatriot Harriet Dart.[30] She defeated another Brit Heather Watson to set up an all-British final with Jodie Burrage, the first since 1977.[31] As a result, she returned to the top 100 in the rankings at No. 77 on 19 June 2023.[32][33] She had won her first WTA Tour title, after defeating Burrage in the final.

She received a special exempt entry into the next UK tournament in Birmingham, but lost in the first round to Zhu Lin in straight sets.

At the Wimbledon Championships, she defeated Australian Daria Saville in the first round and Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in the second, before she lost to Elena Rybakina in an under-one-hour match.[34] With Alex de Minaur in mixed doubles, she also finished in the second round.

Boulter came through two rounds of qualifying to gain a place in the main draw of the Canadian Open in Montreal. She won her first-round match against Rebecca Marino,[35] but lost in round two to Coco Gauff.[36] This result improved Boulter's singles ranking to a career high of 60, on 14 August 2023.

At the US Open, she entered the main draw via her ranking for the first time in her career. In the first round, she defeated Diane Parry in straight sets for her first-ever main-draw win at Flushing Meadows, and then beat Chinese player Wang Yafan, in three sets, in the second round. Boulter lost to Peyton Stearns in round three, in two sets,[37] but reached a new career-high WTA ranking of 50 on 11 September 2023.

2024: First WTA 500 title & top 30

Boulter participated in the British team for the 2024 United Cup. She defeated Jessica Pegula in the round-robin stage but the team was eliminated before the knock-out phase.[38] She then reached the second round of the Australian Open where she lost to Zheng Qinwen.[39] Boulter played the Linz Open where again she had finished in round two, after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.[40]

At the San Diego Open, the unseeded Boulter defeated Lesia Tsurenko, second seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, seventh seed Donna Vekić, and third seed Emma Navarro to reach her first WTA 500 final.[41] In the final, she defeated the sixth seeded Marta Kostyuk achieving her first win at this level and taking her ranking into the top 30.[42]

In April 2024, Boulter helped Great Britain to a 3-1 win in an away tie against France to make it into the Billie Jean King Cup finals. Having lost to Diane Parry 2-6, 0-6 on day one, Boulter defeated Clara Burel 7-5, 6-0 in the opening match of day two for what was her first Tour level victory on clay. [43]

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.[44]

Singles

Current through the 2024 Qatar/Dubai Open.

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Doubles

Current through the 2022 US Open.

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WTA Tour finals

Singles: 2 ( 2 titles )

More information Legend, Finals by surface ...
More information Result, W–L ...

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 16 (7 titles, 9 runner–ups)

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More information Result, W–L ...

Doubles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner–ups)

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More information Result, W–L ...

Junior Grand Slam tournament finals

Girls' doubles: 1 (runner–up)

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Top 10 wins

More information Season, Total ...
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Notes

  1. Formerly known as Fed Cup until 2020.
  2. Edition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
  3. The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009 until 2024. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
  4. 2013: WTA ranking–775.

References

  1. "Katie Boulter ranking and prize money". WTA.
  2. "Grantees". Tennis First. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  3. "Woodhouse Eaves tennis player Katie Boulter in action at Loughborough University". Leicester Mercury. 5 November 2013. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  4. Sharpe, James (23 January 2014). "Tennis: Loughborough's Katie Boulter reaches Australian Open final". Leicester Mercury. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  5. "From Woodhouse to Wimbledon" (PDF). Roundabout. February 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  6. "Tennis: Loughborough's Katie Boulter follows in path of the stars". Leicester Mercury. 24 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  7. "AEGON Junior Player of the Month". Lawn Tennis Association. December 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  8. Rush, Richard (1 December 2013). "Boulter is top girl in the UK". Loughborough Echo. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  9. Sharpe, James (24 January 2014). "Tennis: Katie Boulter misses out in Australian Open doubles final". Leicester Mercury. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  10. Rush, Richard (25 May 2014). "Boulter serves up hat-trick of titles". Loughborough Echo. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  11. "Tennis: Wimbledon blow for Boulter". Leicester Mercury. 18 June 2014. Archived from the original on 19 June 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  12. "Katie Boulter retires due to injury against Anna Bondar at Lyon Open". Sky Sports. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  13. "Katie Boulter goes down fighting against Petra Kvitova in Eastbourne". The Independent. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  14. "Wimbledon: Katie Boulter and Heather Watson win, Alastair Gray beaten". BBC Sport. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  15. Ballard, Stuart (2 July 2022). "Katie Boulter vs Harmony Tan RECAP: Brit loses in just 51 minutes in Wimbledon heartache". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  16. "W100 Surbiton". ITFtennis.com. ITF World Tennis Tour.
  17. Carayol, Tumaini (8 July 2023). "Elena Rybakina demolishes Katie Boulter in one-sided mismatch". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  18. "Canadian Open 2023: Katie Boulter loses to Coco Gauff in straight sets". BBC Sport. 10 August 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  19. "Katie Boulter exits US Open in third-round loss to Peyton Stearns". The Independent. 3 September 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  20. "United Cup: Katie Boulter beats Jessica Pegula in GB defeat by US". BBC Sport. 31 December 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  21. "Jack Draper and Katie Boulter dumped out of Australian Open". City A.M. 18 January 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.

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