Katie Boulter ends taxing year as leader of British women’s tennis | Katie Boulter

AWhen Katie Boulter concluded her 2023 season last November, she looked back with satisfaction on her best season yet. After spending significant periods of her career on the sidelines with injuries, she was finally able to steadily build her form week after week. She took advantage of her opportunities without hesitation, won her first WTA title in Nottingham and established herself in the top 100 in the world.

Still, her satisfaction was accompanied by some caution. She now faced the significant challenge of defending those points and maintaining her position at the top level of the sport next season: “I know it will be an uphill battle next year,” she said.

It is fair to say that Boulter conquered this steeper slope well. On Tuesday, the 28-year-old started her final individual tournament of the year with a solid 6-4, 6-4 win over Aoi Ito of Japan in Hong Kong, where she hopes to end her season on a positive note after She continues to rise up from her year-end number 58 in 2023. She has taken her game to new heights, securing placements at the biggest events and gaining respect among the world’s best players. Boulter currently sits at No. 29 in the rankings, just two spots below the career-high singles ranking of 27 she achieved in March.

This improvement was led by her spectacular performance in San Diego, where Boulter performed at the best level of her career, defeating four consecutive seeds – Beatriz Haddad Maia, Donna Vekic, Emma Navarro and Marta Kostyuk – on her way to winning her first WTA 500 title. . All four of these opponents are now in the top twenty, further emphasizing the quality of her performances. Her title defense at the Nottingham Open, where she won her third career WTA tournament despite being far from her best form, was also impressive in its own way.

Many things have not been easy for Boulter this year. She has struggled in the second half of the season, especially after her excellent grass-court season ended with a dramatic, disappointing second-round defeat at Wimbledon to Harriet Dart. After her brief return to the red clay for the Olympics, Boulter failed to string together victories, compiling a 6–8 win–loss record between July and mid-October without winning consecutive completed matches.

When at full strength, Boulter is a clean, smooth ball striker with easy power and between her powerful first serve and forehand, she possesses weapons that can devastate so many of the best defenses on tour. But Boulter’s game can also be too rigid and linear, and despite improvements, her movement and defense can be a problem at the highest level. Boulter’s serve can also be volatile.

Despite being seeded at grand slam events for the first time in her career, she failed to complete the second round of a major this year, leaving her struggling to reap the benefits of avoiding top players in the first rounds of the grand slam. tournaments.

However, after a career full of injuries and setbacks, it is impressive enough to see Boulter traveling around the world every week, with ambition and drive, and her motivation undiminished. Her first full year on the WTA tour was particularly taxing, especially as the Olympics complicated scheduling between Wimbledon and the US Open. This week marks her 23rd tournament of the season, an important count for any player.

Now Boulter will look to end things on a suitably high note. Last week she broke out of her poor form to reach the semi-finals of the Tokyo WTA 500 event with three efficient straight sets victories over lower-ranked opponents, including a 6-1, 6-3 hammering of former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu. She eventually fell to another fallen former grand slam champion, Sofia Kenin.

In Hong Kong, a tough second-round opponent awaits the second seed, Boulter in Wang Xiyu of China. After wrapping up her activities in Asia, all eyes will be on the final of the Billie Jean King Cup in Málaga, where Boulter will cap an important year as the undisputed leader of British women’s tennis in 2024.