Katie Boulter doesn't 'have anything to lose' as she vows to come out swinging - at Billie Jean Cup and French Open
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Published 09/04/2024 at 13:12 GMT
Katie Boulter is heading into the clay-court season in top form, with the Brit having hit a career-high ranking of 27 in the world just last month. Having added Andy Murray’s fitness coach Matt Little to her team last year, she is reaping the physical gains and enjoying an injury-free run heading to the dirt as she prepares to take part in the Billie Jean Cup this weekend.
'Nothing stops here' - Boulter aims for more after San Diego title triumph
British No. 1 Katie Boulter is looking to continue her strong form when she switches to the clay, a surface where she doesn’t have many points to defend. Having already won the biggest title of her year in San Diego, Boulter is looking to kick on with the clay set to be the most important surface of the year, given the Olympics will also be held on the red dirt of Roland-Garros. But first up for Boulter is the Billie Jean Cup qualifier against France.
Boulter credited much of her recent success to the addition of Andy Murray’s former fitness coach to her team, Matt Little coming on board last year. Boulter was speaking to the WTA’s Insider Podcast as she admitted that injuries derailed some of her early career, hence her decision to employ a specialist fitness professional – which is set to pay dividends as the tour switches to clay.
“I gave myself a really strong platform last year to get my ranking up as high as I can and physically, I was in a really good place as well,” she said.
“For myself, I made a couple of amendments to my team, I added a fitness coach who I’d never worked with before – actually Andy [Murray’s] fitness coach. It was a little bit of extra experience where I felt I could improve physically and it’s made a massive difference to my game, I see it day in, day out.
“I see it in so many small things that are helping me win matches and I’ve had a great start to the year, you know I’m mentally in a really good place, battling every single day and just doing what I love.”
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Katie Boulter of Germany returns a shot against Camila Giorgi of Italy during Day 4 at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 06, 2024 in Indian Wells, California.
Image credit: Getty Images
Boulter hasn’t traditionally prioritised clay, playing Roland-Garros qualifiers but not also completing a full schedule of warm-up tournaments. She’s never made it to the main draw in Paris, but will qualify automatically on her ranking this year for the first time – and could be seeded to boot.
“I haven’t played that much on [clay], I think it’s something I stayed away from on purpose. I had quite a lot of injuries and I didn’t feel a change of surface would help me for a few weeks, so naturally I tried to stay away from it and avoid having extra changes for my body.
“I went for the main event of Roland-Garros but I didn’t want to continue playing week in, week out on it, it was tough on my body.
“But I’m actually really excited for it, it’s something new for me, I think a lot of players play on the dirt a lot more, they have quite a few points to defend and I’m going to come out there and swing, naturally for me I don’t have anything to lose.”
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Interestingly, Boulter admitted that she spent the lockdown in 2020 training specifically on clay, utilising the time to truly learn a surface she hadn’t grown up on. She was training back then with fellow countrywoman Joanna Konta – who was pretty handy on the dirt herself, making the semi-finals of Roland Garros back in 2019.
“I actually chose to train on the clay for the period we had in lockdown, which was eight, nine, 10 weeks. That mentally gave me a lot of help, and physically as well,” said Boulter.
“The logic was, might as well use the time, it was a surface I hadn’t spent much time on so I took the time to learn about it and transition on it, it did make a difference. I do think I have a game style that can play well on it, a lot of it is physical and that will be the challenge for me.”
Between her injury-free status, her newfound physicality and the fact Boulter is full of confidence, an assault on the clay-court season isn’t beyond the realms of possibility for the world No. 28. But first for her is the chance to help Great Britain qualify for the finals of the Billie Jean Cup alongside Emma Raducanu, Harriet Dart, Heather Watson and Fran Jones when they take on France this weekend in Le Portel.
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