Katie Boulter has her sights set on the world’s top 10 and is hoping her success can help inspire more female coaches in tennis.
The 27-year-old is enjoying the best period of her career, having soared from outside the top 150 to a high of 27 in the rankings in less than a year, winning WTA Tour titles in Nottingham and San Diego along the way.
Previously, Boulter’s trajectory had been a story of periodic highs amid long spells out of the game through injury and struggles to break through the lower levels of the sport.
Now she is a clear British number one and will be seeded at a grand slam for the first time at the French Open beginning on Sunday.
But Boulter is keen to stress her ambitions do not end here, telling the PA news agency: “When I was 150, I think it was actually tougher to be motivated. After Nottingham last year, I really don’t think I’ve ever been more hungry to succeed.
“Of course I’m happy and I’m doing well and I’m getting closer to where I want to be, but I genuinely think I have a chance of being inside the top 10, I think my game can be there, so I struggle to be satisfied sitting at 27 in the world.
“It’s great I’ve got that number by my name and no one can take that away from me, but I want more.”
Boulter, who is a brand ambassador for Lexus, added: “It is also my duty to myself to say, ‘Hold on, let’s pause for one second. I won San Diego, a 500, that’s an unbelievable achievement’, and to remind myself that is my level.
“I’ve got to bank it and not shy away from it and enjoy the moment as well. We actually just bought a new trophy cabinet at home and I’m going to put my trophy there and I’m going to put Alex’s trophy there and I think that’ll be a moment for me where I go, ‘Wow, that actually happened’.”
Greater physical durability has been at the heart of Boulter’s rise, but another key factor has been her partnership with coach Biljana Veselinovic.
