Body or Ranking - Katie Boulter's Australian Open Dilemma

British Katie Boulter says she feels she has to "choose between my physical health and my world standing" as the scramble continues for a spot in January's Australian Open main event.

While the typical WTA Tour tournament schedule is finished, there are still standing points to be won in Chile, Argentina, multiple sites and international tournaments.

The women's entry list for the initial Grand Slam of the upcoming season will be determined by the world rankings of early December, which could create a dilemma for competitors near the selection threshold.

Health Challenges

Former British number one Boulter tore an abductor in her concluding competition of the year in Asian venues last period, and is now weighing up whether to compete in the WTA 125 Challenger event in Angers, the continental destination, in the first week of December.

The athlete's recent injury, and the fact she would need to achieve at least multiple victories in Angers to boost her standing, means she may well end up not competing.

Different Systems

In opposition, male players are not experiencing the same dilemma, as for the initial instance the male Australian Open entry list will be established from present week's positions, which is the ATP's formal annual-final position determination.

The adjustment is designed to deterring competitors from pursuing standing points during what is fundamentally the rest interval.

Coaching Changes

This period has been a challenging one for Boulter.

She achieved merely fourteen professional major tournament games and currently separated with instructor Biljana Veselinovic after a three-year working relationship in which she captured multiple WTA titles.

"Biljana is an outstanding coach, and an remarkably good individual as well, which produces circumstances very difficult," Boulter said.

The pursuit for a new trainer is currently ongoing, seeking someone who has high-level experience as Boulter continues to think she can be a world-class player.

Career Objectives

"Moving ahead with a different trainer, an important factor I'm completely sure on is that they are going to be an individual who has considerable expertise in how to advance to the very top level of this game," she said.

"I've been ranked as elevated as twenty-three and I am confident I can return there. I am not convinced my standard has diminished, I believe the reliability needs to improve.

"My objective is not to be ranked 50, 40, 30, 20 - we've accomplished that. The goal is to be within the top twenty."