Former British No 1 urges Katie Boulter to be ‘smart’ if she wants to crack top 20 in the rankings
Katie Boulter cracked the top 30 in the world this week and Laura Robson believes “the sky is the limit” for the newly-crowned San Diego Open champion, although she needs to be “smart” when it comes to her schedule.
Boulter surged to a new career-high of No 27 in the WTA Rankings after winning her maiden WTA 500 tournament on Sunday as she defeated seventh seed Marta Kostyuk in the San Diego final.
The 21-place surge came on the back of an outstanding year for the 27-year-old, who found herself outside the top 100 at the start of the 2023 season.
But there could be more to come from Boulter as she doesn’t have too many points to defend at the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open while she also didn’t have a busy clay-court schedule on the WTA Tour last year.
It means there will be plenty of opportunity to pick up points over the coming months and former British No 1 Robson sees no reason why Boulter can’t get into the top 20.
“She’s cracked the top 30 this week and I feel like the sky’s the limit really because it’s been slow and steady progress. It doesn’t feel like top 20 is out of the question,” she told Sky Sports News.
“She doesn’t have a lot to defend until around the grass season in the summer so she’ll be thinking ‘what tournaments can I play by creating a smart schedule for myself to pick up some good wins?’.
“She’s got a couple of days off before the first round in Indian Wells so she will be physically really fresh and she doesn’t have anything to defend, so she’s probably thinking top 20 already.
“Last year she was playing Australian Open qualifying and trying to get back inside the top 100, which felt a long way off, but suddenly we’re already there.”
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Boulter made her breakthrough last year when she won her maiden WTA Tour singles title, the Nottingham Open, and broke through the top 100. She finished the year at No 56 before finally hitting the top 50 in February before her big jump to No 27.
Robson believes the current British No 1 is “stronger than ever”.
“It’s been slow and steady progress which I think has been the biggest change because it doesn’t feel overwhelming in the moment when you have these big wins,” she said.
“She started the year really well by beating Jessica Pegula in one of her first matches. You’re thinking ‘wow’ she’s really hitting it big but she’s been playing really consistent tennis and she’s really improved her movement so much.
“I think a lot of people kind of didn’t expect her to miss the Middle Eastern swing in Doha and Dubai because she knew she wanted quite a big training block going into these American tournaments and what a difference it’s made!
“Physically, she’s looking stronger than ever, so for me not a surprise at all actually.”
