Physical Health versus Ranking - Boulter's Australian Open Dilemma
Britain's Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "decide between my body and my professional position" as the competition continues for a place in January's Australian Open main event.
While the regular WTA Tour season is completed, there are still ranking points to be won in South American nations, regional locations, multiple sites and European destinations.
The female participant roster for the initial Grand Slam of the upcoming season will be based on the international positions of 8 December, which could cause a difficult choice for competitors near the selection threshold.
Health Challenges
Previous British leading competitor Boulter tore an abductor in her final event of the year in Hong Kong last timeframe, and is now weighing up whether to participate in the WTA 125 Challenger event in Angers, the continental destination, in the initial week of December.
Boulter's current physical issue, and the situation she would need to achieve at least several wins in the European event to improve her standing, means she may well end up not participating.
Varying Approaches
In comparison, men's competitors are not experiencing the identical predicament, as for the initial instance the men's Australian Open entry list will be established from current week's standings, which is the ATP's standard annual-final standing calculation.
The adjustment is intended to deterring athletes from seeking ranking points during what is basically the rest interval.
Professional Adjustments
This year has been a demanding one for Boulter.
She secured just 14 professional primary competition contests and recently separated with coach Biljana Veselinovic after a lengthy collaboration in which she captured three WTA titles.
"Biljana is an incredible coach, and an remarkably good individual as well, which creates situations very difficult," Boulter commented.
The pursuit for a new trainer is currently ongoing, looking for someone who has high-level experience as Boulter continues to think she can be a top-20 athlete.
Career Objectives
"Progressing with a different trainer, one thing I'm very clear on is that they are going to be a professional who has a lot of expertise in how to make it to the peak performance of this sport," she said.
"I've been ranked as advanced as twenty-three and I believe I can get back there. I don't think my level has diminished, I believe the reliability needs to develop.
"My aim is not simply to be positioned 50, 40, thirty, 20 - we've achieved that. The objective is to be among the elite group."