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Britain's Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "pick between my physical condition and my professional position" as the race carries on for a place in next January's Australian Open main draw.

While the typical WTA Tour tournament schedule is over, there are still ranking points to be earned in South American nations, Argentina, multiple sites and international tournaments.

The women's participant roster for the initial Grand Slam of the 2026 season will be based on the global standings of the December cutoff, which could present a challenging situation for players close to the selection threshold.

Physical Setbacks

Ex- British number one Boulter suffered an hip muscle in her concluding competition of the year in Asian venues last month, and is now evaluating whether to participate in the WTA 125 Challenger event in European venues, France, in the first week of December.

Boulter's ongoing health concern, and the reality she would need to secure at least multiple victories in the European event to improve her standing, means she may well eventually not participating.

Different Systems

In comparison, male players are not confronting the same dilemma, as for the first time the men's Australian Open entry list will be created from this week's standings, which is the ATP's formal season-concluding position determination.

The adjustment is aimed at discouraging athletes from chasing ranking points during what is essentially the rest interval.

Training Transitions

This period has been a challenging one for Boulter.

She secured just fourteen Tour-level primary competition contests and recently split with instructor Biljana Veselinovic after a extended working relationship in which she captured three WTA victories.

"Biljana is an incredible instructor, and an exceptionally quality person as well, which makes things extremely hard," Boulter commented.

The pursuit for a replacement coach is well under way, seeking a professional who has elite expertise as Boulter continues to think she can be a top-20 athlete.

Career Objectives

"Progressing with a different trainer, an important factor I'm completely sure on is that they are going to be someone who has a lot of experience in how to make it to the peak performance of this sport," she explained.

"I've been positioned as high as twenty-three and I believe I can get back to that level. I am not convinced my performance has gone anywhere, I believe the reliability must enhance.

"My objective is not simply to be ranked fifty, forty, 30, 20 - we've been there. The aim is to be among the elite group."