AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2025

Katie Boulter

Press Conference

V. KUDERMETOVA/K. Boulter

7-6, 2-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Katie, obviously not the result you would have wanted tonight against a tough opponent. Just talk through your thoughts on the match overall.

KATIE BOULTER: Yeah, I thought it was a little bit of a whirlwind. She played extremely well at times, and then she kind of let me in again. I played some better stuff, but just wasn't quite there.

I felt like in the third set maybe if I had taken a deep breath or taken two seconds to myself we could have gone the other way. It wasn't, like, one-sided maybe as the score suggests.

Yeah, I had chances, didn't quite take them. Wasn't my day. But it's tennis.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You're saying if you had taken a deep breath. Does that suggest you felt like you weren't quite thinking straight at the time?

KATIE BOULTER: I wouldn't say I wasn't thinking straight. I think I was thinking straight the whole time. I just don't think I quite played the way that I wanted to play.

Maybe on the odd point here or there where I tried to be a little bit safe, especially there was one breakpoint that I wasn't that smart with my tactics. I went to her backhand, and she hit a good backhand line.

Look, I mean, I can't pinpoint one point, but at the same time it could have changed the match and I'm very well aware of that.

Yeah, I mean, unfortunately it's one of those days that you lose a match against someone who played better than you on the day. And yeah, obviously I'm a little bit gutted about it.

Q. How important was the beginning of that third set? It seemed like you were the one applying the pressure, but you just couldn't get that break.

KATIE BOULTER: Yeah, I felt like I started better than her in the third set. I think I had one breakpoint. I was 30-Love on one of the games with new balls, which, you know, sometimes it's easy to kind of serve your way out of trouble with new balls, which I felt like a couple of balls she did.

But yeah, I mean, she played some lights-out stuff at the very end of the match. Whether I had taken that break or not, it may not have made a difference, I'm not sure. But yeah, I mean, it is what it is (smiling).

Q. How were your emotions after that match? Generally, how do your emotions vary at a Grand Slam after a defeat at a Grand Slam compared to a regular tour level?

KATIE BOULTER: I would say probably a little bit more heightened. I would say, you know, I pride myself on every single week I go out and put everything I have on the court. I felt like today I didn't quite, I didn't quite get there.

Obviously losing a match like that hurts, but I'm someone that's going to keep showing up. I'm going to have my moment, I'm sure of it.

My level, when I think back to it over these last three weeks, has been above my normal level for a long period of time now. If I keep putting that in every single day, then I know I'm going to have my moment. You know, whether it's today, whether it's in a year, whether it's the end of this year, whether it's the middle of the year, I cannot tell you.

But one thing I can assure you is I'm going to keep showing up, putting myself in these positions, giving myself the opportunity that I know I deserve, and I also feel like I have the game for, as well.

You know, look, last week I'm going toe to toe with Iga Swiatek. And honestly it doesn't go anywhere. Your level doesn't go anywhere from week to week. It's just about now being able to transfer that and keep going at it and making it more consistent.

Q. You said you played so well in Sydney. Can you sum up your frustration about not being able to produce that at Grand Slam levels? You feel different coming to these events?

KATIE BOULTER: No, I mean, my level here has been great, too. I mean, on the practice court every single day I have been putting the same level as Sydney every single day.

I had a bad day at the office. I don't really want to make it that though. I'm not really one to kind of go down that route. It means I go back to work. I've got more to do. And, you know, just because I lost one tennis match does not mean my level has gone anywhere. I strongly feel that.

I have made leaps and bounds this last year. Even at the beginning of the year, it's a different level to anything that I have been playing before.

I feel confident in that. As I said, it's about putting myself in that position. It's about using the opportunities that I get. And one day, hopefully one day, I will make that breakthrough that I want to break through in a Grand Slam, and I'm going to keep doing it until I get that moment.

Q. You have never reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam, but the sounds of it there, you've got the belief that you really are a better player than that and you can get there?

KATIE BOULTER: Yeah, I genuinely believe it. My level, you know, this last month has really consolidated that in my mind. Even though it wasn't quite out there today, look, we've got to give her some credit there, as well. She played a great match, as well. She was lights-out for six games at the start of the match, which I didn't really touch a ball.

At the end of the match again, I'm serving first serves and she's hitting return winners. There's not much I can do in that situation.

But again, I have to be better at finding a way when she's kind of dipped her level and raised my level again higher. That's something I do want to work on.

Look, ultimately I'm going to keep working hard. It's not my moment today. I've got three more Grand Slams this year. I've got 50 more tournaments to play this year. Yeah, I take it on the chin and I move on.

Q. You talked at the pretournament presser about maybe prioritizing the Grand Slams more this year. What will that look like for the other three? How difficult is it to sort of find that balance between making the Grand Slams most important but also not putting too much pressure on yourself for them?

KATIE BOULTER: Yeah, absolutely. It's a fine balance. As I said, I feel like my level in the last year or two is kind of increased a lot more than it has done for a very long time for the whole of my career.

I'm still new at this. I'm getting older, but I'm still new at this. I'm still very fresh into this position that I'm in. I'm very well aware that you've got to be playing week in, week out, and winning matches in all different types of levels to maintain your ranking and increase it even more so.

I think every single week that I play is another opportunity, whether it's a Grand Slam or not.

Of course, I want to have a run in a Grand Slam, but ultimately, I do feel like that will come. It's just a matter of time.

I think prioritizing them is really important. But also prioritizing Masters, as well. That was also something. It's not just only the Grand Slams. It's the bigger events, peaking for those tournaments.

I can hand on heart say I have given everything I could coming into this tournament to prioritize it. You win some, you lose some. You sometimes have to kind of keep betting on yourself and keep backing yourself.

You know, this is the first time I have properly done that, and I've got a lot more opportunities to do that.

Q. I was going to ask if the medical timeout was disruptive. It was quite cold, wasn't it? I thought maybe you must have cooled off quite a bit, waiting. It was like 10, 12 minutes.

KATIE BOULTER: Medical timeouts are a very interesting one. I don't think it at all made a difference today. I mean, honestly, I broke her, so whether it made a difference or not, I don't know. Maybe she did it to herself. It is an interesting topic of conversation, medical timeouts in general.

Q. Do you think maybe they shouldn't be so easily available to players?

KATIE BOULTER: Ah, look, I mean, I'm not entirely sure what the solution is with it. I'm not sure.

Look, I have been that player who has been injured and needed medical timeout, so I will be the first person to say I appreciate having them there and what the WTA physios do really does make a difference.