Katie Boulter

Katie Boulter (born 1 August 1996 in Leicester) is a British tennis player.

Boulter, who hails from Woodhouse Eaves, has won five singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 18 February 2019, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 82. On 31 December 2018, she peaked at No. 431 in the doubles rankings.

Boulter was ranked the No. 10 junior tennis player in the world in March 2014. She is based at the Lawn Tennis Association's National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and is coached by Jeremy Bates, Nigel Sears and Mark Taylor.

Boulter's mother played tennis at county level, and represented Great Britain a few times. Boulter herself started playing tennis aged 5, and went on to represent Great Britain three years later, aged 8. She has said that when she was younger, beating her older brother was a motivating factor. "We used to practise together at this local court down the road from our house. It was the only thing I could eventually beat him in, so that felt great."

Boulter played the piano before her tennis career began to take precedence. She also has an interest in fashion and made an appearance in Vogue magazine in 2018.

2008 – 2013: Steady Rise

Following in the path of Anna Kournikova, Boulter showed young promise in 2008 when she won the Lemon Bowl in Rome, aged 11. She went on in 2011, aged 14, to become a finalist in the Junior Orange Bowl Tennis Championships in Coral Gables, Florida. Past finalists have included Andy Murray and Caroline Wozniacki. She was awarded the Aegon Junior Player Award that month.

Boulter claimed her first senior doubles title at a $10,000 event in Sharm el-Sheikh in November 2013.

2014: Doubles success, First senior singles title

In January 2014, Boulter went on to have further doubles success and was a finalist at the Australian Open girls' doubles event with Ivana Jorović. In May 2014, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Boulter won her first senior singles title over fellow Briton Eden Silva. She also won the doubles title at the same event partnering Nina Stojanović, to whom she had lost a previous final in singles. A month later, Boulter was given a wild card for Wimbledon qualifying, losing in the first round to Italian Alberta Brianti in a three-set match which lasted two-and-a-half hours.

2018: First second-round appearance in a major

2018 became her most successful tennis year. She won her first $25,000 singles title at the event in Óbidos in April. In May, Boulter then won a further singles title at the $60,000 event in Fukuoka, Japan. Despite falling in the first round of qualifying for the French Open, Boulter carried her good form into the grass court season, She received a wild card for a WTA tournament in Nottingham and reached her first WTA quarterfinal there. In July 2018 she received a wildcard to the $100,000 grass court tournament in Southsea, United Kingdom where she fell to Kirsten Flipkens in the final, then received a wildcard into the Wimbledon main draw, where she won her first round match over Veronica Cepede Royg. She lost to Naomi Osaka in the second round in straight sets.

2019: Second second-round appearance in a major

Boulter began the 2019 season in the Hobart International in Tasmania, Australia where she did not qualify, losing to Greet Minnen in three sets. Her next tournament was the Australian Open. Her first match was against Ekaterina Makarova who she defeated in three sets with the first instance in the Australian Open of a third-set tiebreak, winning the tiebreak 10–6. However, her run ended in the second round with a straight-set defeat by Aryna Sabalenka. Her next tournament was the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy during which she defeated Bernarda Pera, Katarina Zavatska and Ysaline Bonaventure in the qualifiers. She then lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets. At the Mexican Open, she defeated Conny Perrin in straight-sets before retiring to 5th seed Sofia Kenin. In the Miami Open, entering as 6th qualifying seed, she lost to Marie Bouzková in straight-sets.

Singles: 12 (5 titles, 7 runner–ups)

Doubles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner–ups)

Girls' Doubles: 1 (1 runner–up)