Coaching Carousel: Lorenzo Musetti strengthens team as Katie Boulter ends three-year partnership

As the season begins to wind down for both ATP and WTA stars, some coaching movements are starting in the Tour. World No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti — who can still qualify for the ATP Finals — and Britain's Katie Boulter have confirmed changes to their teams.

Musetti will add Spaniard José Perlas to his team, the current coach of Serbian Dusan Lajovic and who previously served as coach of the former world No. 1 Carlos Moyá, and Captain of the Spanish Davis Cup team. The Italian already has Simone Tartarini as his main coach, and Perlas will join in a co-coach role, according to Spaziotennis.

Musetti is still in the running for a spot in the ATP Finals, although a few weeks ago he seemed practically qualified. He was in the qualifying zone for much of the year, and until a couple of months ago, he had a good cushion in 9th place. However, Félix Auger-Aliassime — following notable campaigns in recent months — ended up taking the 8th spot in the Race to Turin after reaching the Paris Masters final a week ago, leaving Musetti 9th.

Meanwhile, Musetti is looking to exhaust his options and received a wildcard from the organization of the Athens Open, where his only chance to qualify is by winning the title in Greece. The Italian lost in the two finals he played this year: Monte Carlo Masters against Carlos Alcaraz and Chengdu against Alejandro Tabilo.

In Greece, Musetti received a first-round bye and earned a hard-fought victory against Stan Wawrinka to advance to the quarterfinals. His next opponent will be the 5th seed, Frenchman Alexandre Muller, and Musetti needs to keep advancing if he dreams of debuting in the Finals next week.

Should he defeat the Frenchman, his semifinal opponent would come from the winner of Sebastian Korda vs. Miomir Kecmanovic. Meanwhile, in the upper half of the same draw, 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic remains alive as the main favorite for the title, potentially setting up a luxury show in a potential final between top-10 players — if both 'Lolo' (Musetti) and 'Nole' (Djokovic) fulfill their favorite status.

A change in working teams was also announced on the WTA side, after Katie Boulter announced her separation from her coach, Biljana Veselinovic, who had worked with Boulter for the past three years. Their joint work brought some of the best moments of Boulter's career, winning three titles under her guidance and reaching her historic best ranking as World No. 23 — in addition to having spent much of the time together as the British No. 1.

Boulter, 29, was unable to repeat her great results from previous seasons during 2025 and slipped down the rankings, starting the year at No. 23 and currently sitting at No. 100. Boulter's season came to an end at the Hong Kong Open (a tournament where she was defending a final appearance), after retiring mid-match in the first round against Alexandra Eala (4-6, 1-2).

Boulter left an emotional message on social media, announcing the end of her relationship with Veselinovic and expressing gratitude for their time working together. "Some chapters are hard to close, but the gratitude stays forever. Thank you Bills for guiding me and helping me rise to some of the best moments of my career. On and off the court 🫰♥️🦢"

Boulter's best results in the 2024 season included her WTA 125 Paris title and her appearance in the third round of Indian Wells. The Leicestershire, England native will quickly need to accumulate points at the start of the 2026 season if she wants to avoid going through the qualifying rounds to compete in the Australian Open early next year.