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Britain's Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "decide between my physical condition and my professional position" as the scramble persists for a spot in the upcoming January Australian Open main event.

While the standard WTA Tour tournament schedule is finished, there are still standing points to be won in South American nations, neighboring countries, multiple sites and European destinations.

The women's competitor lineup for the first Grand Slam of the 2026 season will be calculated from the global standings of the December cutoff, which could present a challenging situation for players approaching the cut.

Physical Setbacks

Previous British number one Boulter tore an hip muscle in her final event of the year in Asian venues last period, and is now weighing up whether to play in the WTA 125 Challenger event in French locations, the continental destination, in the opening days of December.

The athlete's current physical issue, and the reality she would need to secure at least three matches in the French tournament to enhance her standing, means she may well ultimately not participating.

Contrasting Methods

In opposition, men's competitors are not facing the identical predicament, as for the premier occasion the men's Australian Open participant roster will be drawn up from current week's positions, which is the ATP's formal annual-final standing calculation.

The adjustment is designed to preventing athletes from seeking standing points during what is fundamentally the break period.

Coaching Changes

This year has been a difficult one for Boulter.

She achieved merely 14 Tour-level major tournament contests and lately split with coach Biljana Veselinovic after a three-year collaboration in which she won three WTA championships.

"Biljana is an incredible instructor, and an exceptionally excellent human as well, which creates situations extremely hard," Boulter said.

The pursuit for a new instructor is actively progressing, seeking someone who has high-level expertise as Boulter continues to think she can be a elite-level player.

Professional Aspirations

"Moving ahead with a new coach, an important factor I'm very clear on is that they are going to be an individual who has a lot of expertise in how to advance to the peak performance of this game," she explained.

"I've been placed as high as twenty-three and I believe I can get back to that level. I don't believe my performance has diminished, I believe the consistency needs to develop.

"My goal is not merely to be positioned fifty, forty, thirty, 20 - we've been there. The objective is to be among the elite group."