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British Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "pick between my physical condition and my ranking" as the scramble carries on for a position in January's Australian Open primary competition.

While the typical WTA Tour season is completed, there are still ranking points to be won in Chile, neighboring countries, multiple sites and international tournaments.

The women's competitor lineup for the first Grand Slam of the forthcoming season will be calculated from the global standings of the December cutoff, which could create a difficult choice for athletes approaching the qualification line.

Health Challenges

Ex- British top-ranked player Boulter suffered an hip muscle in her last tournament of the year in Hong Kong last month, and is now evaluating whether to play in the WTA 125 development competition in French locations, France, in the initial week of December.

Boulter's ongoing health concern, and the situation she would need to achieve at least several wins in the French tournament to boost her standing, means she may likely ultimately not competing.

Varying Approaches

In contrast, men's competitors are not facing the equivalent situation, as for the initial instance the men's Australian Open entry list will be created from current week's standings, which is the ATP's formal year-end position determination.

The adjustment is intended to discouraging competitors from pursuing ranking points during what is essentially the break period.

Training Transitions

This period has been a challenging one for Boulter.

She secured just 14 elite primary competition contests and currently separated with trainer Biljana Veselinovic after a lengthy collaboration in which she captured three WTA titles.

"Biljana is an outstanding instructor, and an remarkably excellent individual as well, which makes things particularly challenging," Boulter commented.

The quest for a different instructor is well under way, searching for an individual who has top-tier expertise as Boulter continues to think she can be a elite-level athlete.

Future Goals

"Moving ahead with a replacement instructor, one thing I'm absolutely certain on is that they are going to be a professional who has considerable expertise in how to advance to the peak performance of this sport," she stated.

"I've been positioned as elevated as twenty-three and I am confident I can return there. I don't believe my performance has disappeared, I think the reliability needs to develop.

"My objective is not to be placed fifty, forty, thirty, 20 - we've been there. The aim is to be inside 20."