Katie Boulter is looking to bounce back from what has been a horrid last month or so as she bids for US Open success.
Boulter had entered the grass court season as the British number one but fortunes have changed rather drastically for the Brit.
Although a first round victory over Paula Badosa had Boulter believing at Wimbledon, a second round defeat to Solana Sierra ensured that her tournament ended in humiliating fashion.
Since then it has been hard for Boulter to take wins on the tour and now sits at 50 in the world, losing four matches in a row.
However, in a recent interview Boulter has defended herself calling the recent criticism ‘unfair, “I’m the only one out there and my team knows what’s actually happening on the court. I think [outsiders] can look at one match and one person’s ranking and be like, she should win that. And I think that’s a downfall,” Boulter told The Independent.
“I’m going to be the first person to say [Sierra] played a great match, she didn’t lose the round after, so it’s not like she shouldn’t or didn’t belong there. I wouldn’t label it because of pressure. I don’t think that’s a fair thing to say. I’ve been around the block for a fair amount of time, I’ve played a lot of pressure matches. She was a better tennis player on the day. But I think pressure is a privilege, and you have to embrace it.”
Elaborating on her Wimbledon campaign, Boulter was happy to have beaten a top ten player on Centre Court and detailed how most tennis players lose half of their matches, “I think it’s very easy to get wrapped up in losses. You lose over 50 per cent of the time. The best in the world lose 50 per cent of the time,” Boulter explained.
“But I think what I meant by that [comment] was, I keep putting myself in positions where I feel like I can go far. I think my tennis in the previous rounds had been extremely good, and then I go out, and unfortunately, I can’t get the job done. I could have easily lost in the first round to a top 10 player, and we’d all be sat here going, ‘That makes sense, tough draw.’
“But I have to take the positives where I actually beat a top 10 player on Centre Court. I think it’s just, playing more matches and getting myself more into those positions, and my time will come, and I have to believe that.”
Although the results haven’t been positive, what has been positive is the response to Katie Boulter opening up on social media abuse.
The Brit admitted she thought the response would be even more negative but has revealed that the complete opposite has happened instead, “I think it almost went the other way – I was getting so many messages, and I’m still getting messages now, with so much positivity,” Boulter explained.
“But it wasn’t really the end goal for me. I wanted to try and make a difference and continue talking about this situation. And I actually got a text this morning that there’s a lot of chat about it in the government. I really hope that it can spark a wider conversation in general. I think it’s such an important thing to start changing for the next generation.”
Boulter is hoping that her results on the court can be more positive starting with her opening round match against Yuan Yue in Cleveland on Monday evening.
