Physical Health versus World Standing - Boulter's Australian Open Predicament
British Katie Boulter admits she feels she has to "pick between my physical condition and my world standing" as the race carries on for a spot in next January's Australian Open primary competition.
While the typical WTA Tour tournament schedule is completed, there are still standing points to be earned in Chile, neighboring countries, multiple sites and international tournaments.
The women's entry list for the opening Grand Slam of the upcoming season will be based on the international positions of 8 December, which could present a challenging situation for competitors close to the selection threshold.
Health Challenges
Former British leading competitor Boulter experienced an abductor in her concluding competition of the year in Hong Kong last month, and is now evaluating whether to compete in the WTA 125 development competition in European venues, the continental destination, in the opening days of December.
Boulter's recent injury, and the fact she would need to win at least several wins in the French tournament to boost her ranking, means she may well end up not participating.
Contrasting Methods
In contrast, men's competitors are not confronting the identical dilemma, as for the premier occasion the men's Australian Open competitor lineup will be created from current week's standings, which is the ATP's standard season-concluding standing calculation.
The adjustment is designed to deterring players from pursuing standing points during what is basically the break period.
Coaching Changes
This season has been a difficult one for Boulter.
She won only fourteen Tour-level major tournament matches and lately split with coach Biljana Veselinovic after a lengthy working relationship in which she captured multiple WTA championships.
"Biljana is an exceptional trainer, and an remarkably good human as well, which produces circumstances particularly challenging," Boulter said.
The pursuit for a replacement trainer is well under way, looking for someone who has elite expertise as Boulter continues to think she can be a elite-level competitor.
Career Objectives
"Progressing with a new coach, an important factor I'm very clear on is that they are going to be a professional who has a lot of experience in how to advance to the peak performance of this sport," she explained.
"I've been ranked as advanced as 23 and I am confident I can get back to that position. I am not convinced my performance has gone anywhere, I feel the reliability must improve.
"My aim is not to be positioned 50, 40, thirty, twenty - we've achieved that. The goal is to be inside the top twenty."