Body versus World Standing - Boulter's Melbourne Grand Slam Dilemma
Britain's Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "decide between my body and my world standing" as the race carries on for a spot in next January's Australian Open main event.
While the standard WTA Tour season is finished, there are still ranking points to be won in Chile, Argentina, multiple sites and European destinations.
The women's competitor lineup for the initial Grand Slam of the forthcoming season will be calculated from the international positions of early December, which could create a dilemma for competitors near the cut.
Injury Concerns
Previous British leading competitor Boulter suffered an hip muscle in her final event of the year in international locations last month, and is now evaluating whether to participate in the WTA 125 secondary tournament in French locations, the European nation, in the first week of December.
The athlete's ongoing health concern, and the fact she would need to achieve at least several wins in the French tournament to boost her standing, means she may probably eventually not participating.
Varying Approaches
In opposition, male athletes are not confronting the identical predicament, as for the first time the men's Australian Open entry list will be created from this week's rankings, which is the ATP's official year-end position determination.
The modification is aimed at preventing players from pursuing ranking points during what is essentially the off-season.
Coaching Changes
This period has been a challenging one for Boulter.
She secured just 14 professional main-draw contests and recently split with instructor Biljana Veselinovic after a lengthy working relationship in which she captured three WTA victories.
"Biljana is an incredible trainer, and an extremely quality human as well, which creates situations very difficult," Boulter commented.
The quest for a different trainer is well under way, searching for someone who has top-tier expertise as Boulter maintains the belief she can be a top-20 competitor.
Future Goals
"Going forward with a different trainer, one thing I'm absolutely certain on is that they are going to be someone who has considerable knowledge in how to make it to the highest echelon of this profession," she stated.
"I've been positioned as high as 23 and I am confident I can climb back there. I don't believe my level has diminished, I think the reliability needs to develop.
"My goal is not simply to be ranked fifty, 40, 30, 20 - we've been there. The objective is to be among 20."