Katie Boulter

Katie Charlotte Boulter (born 1 August 1996) is a British professional tennis player and currently the British No. 1 in women's singles. On 4 March 2024, she reached her best WTA singles ranking of 27. On 31 December 2018, she peaked at No. 431 in the doubles rankings. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour as well as seven singles titles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

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 was coached by Jeremy Bates, Nigel Sears and Mark Taylor.

Early life
Boulter was born in Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire, the second of two children to David and Susan (née Gartshore) and has an older brother, James. Boulter's mother, Susan, played tennis at county level and represented Great Britain a few times as a junior. Boulter's maternal grandmother, Gill Gartshore (née Dran), was also a county champion tennis player.

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 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 $10k 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: 2nd round at Wimbledon, top 100 debut
2018 became her most successful tennis year. She won her first $25k singles title at the event in Óbidos, Portugal in April. In May, Boulter then won a further singles title at the $60k 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 the Nottingham Open and reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal there. In July 2018, she received a wildcard into the $100k grass-court event in Southsea, England where she reached the final and fell to Kirsten Flipkens.

She then received a wildcard into the Wimbledon main draw, where she won her first-round match over Veronica Cepede Royg. She lost in the second round to Naomi Osaka, in straight sets.

She ended the year ranked 100th.

2019: Australian Open first win
Boulter began the 2019 season in Hobart, Tasmania where she did not qualify, losing to Greet Minnen in three sets. Her next tournament was the Australian Open. She defeated Ekaterina Makarova, 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-sets 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 fifth seed Sofia Kenin. At the Miami Open, entering as the sixth qualifying seed, she lost to Marie Bouzková in straight sets.

In April, Boulter suffered a spinal stress fracture while playing for Great Britain in the Fed Cup.

2020–2021: Another Wimbledon win
At the 2020 Australian Open, she lost in the first round to Elina Svitolina. At the 2021 Australian Open, she suffered a first-round loss against Daria Kasatkina. At Wimbledon, she beat qualifier Danielle Lao before she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, in the second round. At the 2021 US Open, she lost in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova.

2022: First top-10 wins, Grand Slam third round
Having won an ITF tournament in February 2022, Boulter had to retire from the WTA event in Lyon in March due to a leg injury.

Boulter missed the clay-court season, but returned at the Nottingham Open in June where she came through qualifying to defeat Tatjana Maria in the first round before losing to Ajla Tomljanović. Granted a wildcard for the Birmingham Classic, she defeated Alison Riske (first top-40 win) and Caroline Garcia, before losing to Simona Halep. At Eastbourne, she was also handed a wildcard and defeated fourth seed and world No. 7, Karolina Plíšková, for her first top-10 win. She lost her last 16 match against Petra Kvitová in three sets.

At Wimbledon, Boulter again upset Plíšková in three sets to advance to the third round of a major for the first time in her career. In round three, Boulter lost to Harmony Tan, in straight sets.

2023: British No. 1, first career title, major 3rd rounds
Boulter started the new season by winning the $60k Canberra International event.

She became the British player No. 1 on 12 June 2023, following a semifinal showing at the Surbiton Trophy. She reached the quarterfinals at the Nottingham Open as one of four British players for a historic first at a WTA event. She went one step further to reach her first WTA Tour semifinal with a win over compatriot Harriet Dart. She defeated another Brit Heather Watson to set up an all-British final with Jodie Burrage, the first since 1977. As a result, she returned to the top 100 in the rankings at No. 77 on 19 June 2023. She had won her first WTA Tour title, after defeating Burrage in the final.

She received a special exempt entry into the next UK tournament in Birmingham, but lost in the first round to Zhu Lin in straight sets.

At the Wimbledon Championships, she defeated Australian Daria Saville in the first round and Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in the second, before losing to Elena Rybakina in an under-one-hour match. With Alex de Minaur in mixed doubles, she also finished in the second round.

Boulter came through two rounds of qualifying to gain a place in the main draw of the Canadian Open in Montreal. She won her first-round match against Rebecca Marino, but lost in round two to Coco Gauff. This result improved Boulter's singles ranking to a career high of 60, on 14 August 2023.

At the US Open, she entered the main draw via her ranking for the first time in her career. In the first round, she defeated Diane Parry in straight sets for her first-ever main-draw win at Flushing Meadows, and then beat Chinese player Wang Yafan, in three sets, in the second round. Boulter lost to Peyton Stearns in round three, in two sets, but reached a new career-high ranking of 50, on 11 September 2023.

2024: First WTA 500 title & top 30
Boulter participated in the British team for the 2024 United Cup alongside Cameron Norrie. She defeated Jessica Pegula in the round-robin stage but the team was eliminated before the knock-out phase. She then reached the second round of the Australian Open where she lost to Zheng Qinwen. Boulter played the Linz Open where again she had finished in round two, after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

At the San Diego Open, the unseeded Boulter defeated Lesia Tsurenko, second seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, seventh seed Donna Vekić, and third seed Emma Navarro to reach her first WTA 500 final. In the final, she defeated the sixth seeded Marta Kostyuk achieving her first win at this level and taking her ranking into the top 30.

In April 2024, Boulter helped Great Britain to a 3–1 win in an away tie against France to make it into the Billie Jean King Cup finals. Having lost to Diane Parry 2–6, 0–6 on day one, Boulter defeated Clara Burel 7–5, 6–0 in the opening match of day two for what was her first Tour level victory on clay.

Boulter retained her Nottingham Open title in June, beating Emma Raducanu in the semifinals and then Karolína Plíšková in the final on the same day at the tournament which was heavily affected by bad weather.

For the first time in her career, Boulter was seeded in the ladies singles at Wimbledon. She defeated Tatjana Maria in two sets, but then lost to fellow Briton Harriet Dart in the second round, [8–10] in the tiebreaker.

Personal life
Boulter is a supporter of Leicester City Football Club. She is currently in a relationship with Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur.

Performance timelines
''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.

Singles
Current through the 2024 Qatar/Dubai Open.