From British No.1 to potential Australian Open qualifying bid: Katie Boulter faces make or break season

Katie Boulter will be looking over her shoulder in the coming weeks with the Briton potentially having to go through qualifying for the Australian Open despite previously being World No.25 and British No.1 a mere few months ago.

Boulter struggles because of the fact that the WTA season is still ongoing for a while. While the regular season is over, those outside the top 100 are still fighting for ranking points in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador and France.

The women's entry list for the Australian Open will in fact be based off the World Rankings as of 8 December which could cause a problem for Boulter. She drops down to 103rd in the rankings this week which means she is one away from dropping out of the main draw entirely. Boulter tore her abductor in the last event of the season so cannot play smaller events even if she wanted to right now.

She will look to potentially play Angers in the first week of December though albeit unlike the ATP, Boulter suffers as the rankings continue while in the men's tour they end on this past week's rankings meaning when Alcaraz was crowned as Year End No.1 was when it cut off so only the top 104 can now play.

This is despite the fact that the WTA season in reality given the WTA Finals was two weeks prior finished nearly a month ago now in regards to the main tour. Having an injury, she faces a dilemma that many have had before her either continue to play and risk further damage and in reality only doing so for the rankings or taking time off and trying to rise again.

For a player like Boulter too she isn't exactly blessed with the riches of free wildcards into events so it would be a long road to recovery. So while she enjoys holiday likely with Alex de Minaur, she will have to ponder her future.

“I’m in this predicament myself right now, and it’s almost like I have to choose between my body or my ranking,” Boulter told the BBC Sport website.

“I think I know my own right choice, but it’s difficult because it means that everyone else is going to be playing and passing me. If there are tournaments there, it gives you an opportunity because you want to make the main draw of Australia.”

She spoke also about the fact that the ATP rankings end on a certain date but that it should be done in WTA and there should be a line drawn between wanting to help players and also killing them off as they cannot defend anything.

“I do think that would probably be the smart thing to do,” Boulter added.

“There has to be somewhere where you draw the line and you give people an opportunity to recuperate and also get a good pre-season in. I feel like this year we’ve seen so many burnouts, and so many people not playing the end of year because of mental health issues as well as body issues, and I do think it contributes to it.”