Physical Health or World Standing - Katie Boulter's Melbourne Grand Slam Predicament

British Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "choose between my physical condition and my ranking" as the race continues for a position in next January's Australian Open main draw.

While the standard WTA Tour tournament schedule is over, there are still position points to be won in Latin American countries, neighboring countries, various venues and France.

The women's competitor lineup for the opening Grand Slam of the upcoming season will be determined by the world rankings of early December, which could cause a challenging situation for athletes approaching the qualification line.

Physical Setbacks

Former British number one Boulter suffered an groin injury in her last tournament of the year in Hong Kong last timeframe, and is now evaluating whether to play in the WTA 125 Challenger event in French locations, France, in the opening days of December.

Boulter's ongoing health concern, and the situation she would need to achieve at least three matches in Angers to boost her position, means she may well eventually not participating.

Contrasting Methods

In contrast, male athletes are not facing the same dilemma, as for the initial instance the men's Australian Open entry list will be drawn up from current week's standings, which is the ATP's official annual-final ranking date.

The modification is designed to deterring competitors from pursuing standing points during what is basically the off-season.

Training Transitions

This year has been a challenging one for Boulter.

She achieved merely 14 elite major tournament games and lately parted ways with instructor Biljana Veselinovic after a three-year collaboration in which she secured multiple WTA championships.

"Biljana is an incredible trainer, and an remarkably quality human as well, which makes things particularly challenging," Boulter commented.

The search for a new coach is well under way, searching for someone who has elite experience as Boulter still believes she can be a top-20 athlete.

Future Goals

"Moving ahead with a different trainer, an important factor I'm absolutely certain on is that they are going to be a professional who has extensive experience in how to make it to the peak performance of this game," she said.

"I've been ranked as high as twenty-three and I believe I can climb back to that level. I don't believe my level has gone anywhere, I feel the reliability must improve.

"My goal is not simply to be positioned 50, forty, thirty, 20 - we've been there. The objective is to be within the top twenty."