AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 8, 2021

Katie Boulter

Press Conference

D. KASATKINA/K. Boulter

6-1, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk us through your match and how you were feeling on the court today?

KATIE BOULTER: You know, I'm pretty disappointed with today. I felt like I never really got going, I felt quite uncomfortable out on the court. I put a lot of pressure on myself when really there was absolutely no need to. The conditions are slightly different today, it felt heavier, the ball was bouncing higher, she has a different kind of swing to a lot of girls and I really struggled to just get some rhythm and get into the match and compete. Yeah, I'm obviously I'm pretty upset about it.

Q. You talked there about putting pressure on yourself. Do you think the result that is you had last week did that kind of make you put more pressure on yourself because you were obviously very confident when we talked to you the other day?

KATIE BOULTER: Of course, I mean I expect a lot of myself, I'm not always the kindest person to myself, I would say. But I had a great week last week, I take a lot of positives from it and I definitely will as well.

I obviously felt like I had a chance today, like any match, I wanted to go out and play well and start my year well and I do feel like I've done that well, but I obviously put a little more emphasis being a Grand Slam instead of WTA and, yeah, that's probably why I put a bit more pressure on myself.

Q. Have you entered any other events next week or is this it now for your Australia trip?

KATIE BOULTER: I am entered into the event next week, I'm not sure whether I'll get into it or not, but it's a little bit of a waiting game on that one. But I've entered main draw of next week.

Q. Did you feel any different coming in? Did you feel like some nerves coming into a Grand Slam match?

KATIE BOULTER: I think it's a situation I haven't been in for a very long time and I have to remind myself of that. I've come a long way, it's just the beginning and of course it's a bigger tournament I'm going to feel a little bit added extra pressure. There's bigger things at stake. I'm obviously going into it playing well and feeling good, so, yeah, I expect a lot of myself but you know what? At the end of the day I'm still going to expect a lot of myself in a 25K or a 15K. So there's different times of pressure and unfortunately I didn't handle it as well as I would like to today.

Q. Looking to the rest of the year how special would it be to play at Wimbledon if you can get there. Because obviously there was no Wimbledon in 2020.

KATIE BOULTER: I mean, of course we're a long way away from it, but it's the highlight of my year, it's something that I really hope that we can have on this year and I get a chance to play and hopefully I can build some momentum and keep playing weeks like last week and get to where I want to be and feel comfortable in the situations.

But of course Wimbledon's my favorite tournament ever, so it would be pretty hard for me to sit here and say I don't want to play it in a few months time.

Q. I know it's so soon you come off court but I'm wondering what your plan is looking forward. You got some wildcards to use and events and your protected ranging to use, do you have any sort of vision of how your season's going to go forward over the next four months?

KATIE BOULTER: I think in the last year with COVID and everything going on, it's a little bit of a lottery. I haven't fully decided where I'm going to play. I'm sort of waiting for the schedule to go fully out and then I think -- I wanted to sit down after this tournament and map it out where I can and can't go because I think obviously a lot of countries have a lot of restrictions. If I go back to the U.K. I'm not sure I can go to a lot of the tournaments.

So it's going to take a lot of thinking and going through, for sure. But it's obviously not an easy time right now to be playing tournaments week-in, week-out, but I'll try and do the best that I can to do that and play as many as I can, depending, it doesn't matter what the level is.

Q. When you're obviously trying to get your ranking up, with the changes to the ranking system to make it two years, how much more difficult does that make it?

KATIE BOULTER: Of course it's going to make it a little bit harder. I'm going to keep focusing on the positives and keep working on my game and I know the results and the ranking will all take place if I keep doing that. Not always a ranking-based girl, I like to be a little bit more in process and I pride myself on working very hard and I'm going to continue to do that and everything else I'm sure will come out when need be.

Q. Have you had any conversations with Bill or with Anne, sorry, about the Billie Jean King Cup? Where you stand and your involvement in that this year?

KATIE BOULTER: I actually haven't, no. I've been kind of trying to take it week by week. Anything can happen. She messaged me the other day to say it was going to be held at the NTC, which is fantastic news. I really want to see it go ahead.

So I'll take it as it goes and maybe after this tournament we'll all have a conversation about all of that, because I don't know my schedule right now and where I'm playing to play next. So I'll see how that fits in and if she would like me to play.

Q. If you're fit, which we all hope you are, what can you do this year, if you start a season actually physically fit without any injuries, what can you achieve?

KATIE BOULTER: I mean, I've worked so hard on my body, so firstly, I really hope that I'm going to stay fit, I believe that I am, and that's my No. 1 goal for this year as it is any year.

But as I kind of feel like I showed last week, unfortunately not this week, the game is there to beat some of these top players and I just feel like I have to maintain it longer, I have to get stronger, I have to get better and it will come out when it feels like coming out. It always does. The more positive weeks that I get, then the more I feel like I'll get toward my goal. I believe that I'll get there eventually and, yeah, I will keep working hard.