AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2024

Katie Boulter

Press Conference

ZHENG QINWEN/K. Boulter

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Katie.

KATIE BOULTER: I would just like to start off by saying my deepest, deepest condolences to Mike Dickson and his family. It was a shock I'm sure to everyone this morning waking up. I think it just reminds all of us the important things in life. It really hit me this morning to have some perspective going out there today. Yeah, what sad news. Sad, sad news.

THE MODERATOR: Just talk us through your thoughts on the match. A tough one for you. Just tell us your thoughts.

KATIE BOULTER: Yeah, tough day today. I wouldn't say it was my best tennis. I wouldn't say it was my worst. I felt like I did everything I could today. I fought. I did everything to the best that I could. I felt like it was really tricky out there. She just played better than me today. That's all I have to say.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Looking at this kind of trip as a whole, how much confidence can you take going into the next part of the season?

KATIE BOULTER: No, this trip has been great. For me it's about week in, week out playing these girls, trying to get big wins against the best players in the world. I gave myself opportunities to do that this week. I found myself winning a couple of matches a few weeks ago as well.

For me, it is a massive step in the right direction. I'm going to keep working very, very hard. I know my game is there. Today it just wasn't quite there. But it's looking forward to the right things that I'm doing. It seems to be paying off. It's just doing it week in, week out.

Q. Would you say maybe the next step for you is to try and push up towards that top 32 so you don't play someone like her in the second round?

KATIE BOULTER: Absolutely. The thing about tennis is you are never satisfied. You start looking at so many different things. You start off with top 100. Then I want to reach 50. Then you start thinking about seeding. Then you start thinking about top 16. You're never happy because you want the next thing.

For me, I want to be playing those girls. I want to have challenges against the best in the world. So it does excite me. Of course, I would much rather play that in the third round, the fourth round to get myself into the tournament more and more and be playing on the bigger courts, which ultimately is more about the tennis than the conditions.

So, yeah, my next step for me is to challenge myself to get to 32 and push on from there.

Q. When you play opponents of that ranking and seeding, what do you take from that in terms of how you can improve and get to that level?

KATIE BOULTER: I take it on face value. I think today I lost a tough scoreline. But I'm still out there battling for an hour and 40 minutes, so she's not done it quickly. I take a lot away from that for myself and the character that I can show.

I don't think my tennis is far behind. I think I had a lot of chances, as well. She's an incredible player with a lot of wins under her belt, as well. So I have to factor that in.

I will go back to my coach, and I'm sure we'll discuss what needs to get better. But today it just wasn't quite as good as her.

Ultimately I feel like I can challenge these girls on a daily basis. I hope that I get many more chances to do that and show that.

Q. Where do you plan to play next? Have you thought about it? Are you staying here as long as Alex is in?

KATIE BOULTER: Well, I have doubles tonight, so hopefully I can win that. That would be a great start.

I don't know what I'm going to do. My plan is I'm currently on the list for Linz, but I don't know whether I'm going to play Doha, Dubai, or which way I'm going to go at the moment. Sort of waiting to see what I get into and then go from there.

Yeah, I'll be getting ready for my next tournament as soon as possible because I want to get out there again and compete.