Katie Boulter

Katie Charlotte Boulter (born 1 August 1996) is an English professional tennis player. On 4 November 2024, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 23. On 6 January 2025, she peaked at No. 277 in the WTA doubles rankings. Boulter 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. She is the former British No. 1 in women's singles.

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.

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.

Career

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 wildcard 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, first WTA Tour quarterfinal

Boulter won her first 25k singles title at the event in Óbidos, Portugal in April. In May, she won a further singles title at the $60k event in Fukuoka, Japan. She received a wildcard for the Nottingham Open, going on to reach her first WTA Tour quarterfinal with a run which included a win over former US Open champion Samantha Stosur. In July, Boulter 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 Verónica Cepede Royg. She lost in the second round to Naomi Osaka in straight sets.

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 where she entered the main draw as a lucky loser and was defeated by Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets. At the Mexican Open, she defeated Conny Perrin in the first round, before retiring with an injury during her next match against fifth seed Sofia Kenin.

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

2021: Another Wimbledon win

At the 2021 Australian Open, she suffered a first-round loss against Daria Kasatkina.
At Wimbledon, she beat qualifier Danielle Lao, before losing to second seed Aryna Sabalenka, in three sets, in the second round. She qualified for the main draw at the 2021 US Open, but lost in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova.

2022: Top-10 wins & major third round

Having won an ITF tournament in February 2022, Boulter had to retire from the WTA Tour 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 (her first win against a top-40 ranked player) 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 third rounds

Boulter 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 Briton, 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 Wimbledon, 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 went out 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: WTA 500 title & top 25

Boulter was a member of the Great Britain 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 reached the second round of the Australian Open with a win over Yuan Yue but lost to 12th seed and eventual runner-up Zheng Qinwen. Boulter played the Linz Open where she defeated sixth seed Jasmine Paolini, before losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round.

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, 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 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 third set tiebreaker.

Boulter lost in the first round of the singles at the Paris Olympics, going down in straight sets to Anna Karolína Schmiedlová. Partnering Heather Watson, she reached the quarterfinals of the doubles, defeating sixth seeded Brazilian duo Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani in the second round, before losing to third seeds and eventual gold medalists Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini from Italy.

In her first tournament after the Olympics, Boulter reached the third round of the Canadian Open for the first time in her career with wins over Bernarda Pera and 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia to set up a meeting with second seed Aryna Sabalenka which she lost.

Seeded 31st, she defeated qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round at the US Open, before losing her next match to Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro. Having received a bye into the second round, and seeded 26th, at the China Open, Boulter defeated Taylor Townsend in straight sets. She lost in the third round to fourth seed Coco Gauff. At the final WTA 1000 event of the season, the Wuhan Open, Boulter lost in the first round to qualifier Lesia Tsurenko.

Boulter defeated Sara Errani in the first round at the Ningbo Open to set up a meeting with sixth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia which she lost in straight sets. Seeded ninth at the Pan Pacific Open, She defeated qualifier Priscilla Hon, lucky loser Kyōka Okamura and Bianca Andreescu to reach the semifinals where she lost to wildcard Sofia Kenin. At the Hong Kong Open, where she was second seed, Boulter defeated Aoi Ito, Wang Xiyu, Anastasia Zakharova and sixth seed Yue Yuan to reach in her third final of the year, which she lost to top seed Diana Shnaider. Despite the defeat, Boulter moved into the world's top-25 for the first time, reaching No. 23 in the WTA rankings.

At the Billie Jean King Cup finals in Spain, Boulter defeated Laura Siegemund in straight sets to seal Great Britain's first round win over Germany. She then overcame Leylah Fernandez as Great Britain defeated defending champions Canada to reach the semifinals. In their last four match against Slovakia, Boulter lost to Rebecca Šramková in three sets as Great Britain were defeated 2–1.

2025: United Cup QF, first clay-court title

At the United Cup, Boulter defeated Nadia Podoroska and then partnered Charles Broom to overcome María Lourdes Carlé and Tomás Martín Etcheverry as Great Britain won their opening group match against Argentina. She then defeated Australia's Olivia Gadecki as Great Britain progressed to the quarterfinals as group winners. They were knocked out of the competition in the last eight by Poland with Boulter losing to Iga Świątek in three sets.

Seeded 22nd at the Australian Open, Boulter defeated Rebecca Marino, but lost to Veronika Kudermetova in the second round.

Boulter was sidelined with a foot injury throughout February, missing the WTA 1000 events in Doha and Dubai. She returned to competitive action in March at Indian Wells where, after being given a bye in the first round, she defeated Irina-Camelia Begu, before losing to seventh seed Elena Rybakina in the third round. At the Miami Open, Boulter was defeated in the first round by Peyton Stearns.

In April, she defeated Tatjana Maria as Great Britain overcame Germany in their opening match in the BJK Cup qualifying round held in The Hague. Boulter then lost to Suzan Lamens, before teaming with Jodie Burrage to defeat Lamens and Demi Schuurs in the decisive doubles as Great Britain beat the Netherlands to secure a place at the finals. At the Madrid Open, she overcame Kateřina Siniaková to secure her first WTA Tour clay-court win. Boulter lost to sixth seed Jasmine Paolini in the second round. She was defeated by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round at the Italian Open. The following week at the Trophée Clarins in Paris, Boulter claimed her maiden WTA 125 title and her first clay-court title at any level, defeating Erika Andreeva, Daria Saville, Elsa Jacquemot and eighth seed Varvara Gracheva to reach the final, where she overcame Chloé Paquet in three sets.

Boulter claimed her first win at the French Open by defeating qualifier Carole Monnet in her opening round match in three sets. She lost her next match to seventh seed Madison Keys in straight sets.

Moving onto the grass-court season at the Queen's Club Championships in London, Boulter defeated qualifier Ajla Tomljanović to reach the second round, where she lost to fifth seed Diana Shnaider in three sets. The defeat brought an end to her two year run as British No. 1.

Seeded eighth and as two-time defending champion at the Nottingham Open, Boulter defeated Lulu Sun in the first round.

Personal life

Boulter was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome as a teenager. She is a supporter of Leicester City Football Club. Boulter got engaged to Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur on 23 December 2024.

Boulter revealed in 2025 that she had suffered persistent and extreme online abuse, and was not alone among tennis players in suffering such abuse, which was partly from disgruntled gamblers.

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 2025 French Open''

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 16 (7 titles, 9 runner–ups)

Doubles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner–ups)

Junior Grand Slam tournament finals

Doubles: 1 (runner–up)

Top 10 wins

Notes

References

External links

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Katie Boulter
at the Lawn Tennis Association (archived)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulter, Katie
1996 births
Living people
People from the Borough of Charnwood
English female tennis players
British female tennis players
People educated at Loughborough High School
Tennis players from Leicestershire
Tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players for Great Britain
21st-century English sportswomen
People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome