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The 23-year-old Briton Katie Boulter is ready to compete again after a back injury that has kept her away from the court for six months. Dropping out from the top-250 after skipping all the tournaments since April, Katie will enter the W15 event in Antalya in a couple of weeks, hoping to find the form and get ready to chase high ranking positions again in 2020.
The Leicestershire native has been working in Spain with her coach Jeremy Bates, eager to leave a rough period behind her and start all over in the final tournaments of the season. Back in May, the young Briton announced she would skip Roland Garros and the entire clay season although she still signed to play in Paris, withdrawing after the draw was made and picking up half of the first prize money which raised the controversy on social media and among some legends from the past, including Billie Jean King.
Ranked outside the top-200 in March 2018, Boulter had made significant progress in the next 13 months, winning two ITF titles and playing in the quarter-final in Nottingham in front of the home fans. Katie entered the top-100 a year ago after another WTA quarter-final in Tianjin, gathering confidence for an even better run in 2019.
The start of the new wasn't that good for the Leicester native who failed to achieve good results on the Tour in the first four months. Defending the national colors in the Fed Cup, Katie gave her 120% in the historical run, beating Ivana Jorovic in February and earning the place in the team against Kazakhstan in the World Group II Play-Off at home in Copper Box Arena, London.
After a thrilling battle, Great Britain prevailed 3-1 to secure the place in the elite for the first time since 1993, led by Johanna Konta and Katie Boulter who propelled their country into World Group II in 2020. Katie suffered a loss to Yulia Putintseva on an opening day after two hours and 31 minutes, wasting three match points and leaving the court devastated and broken, also with severe back pain that made the loss even worse.
Despite that, the youngster left the injury and a tough defeat behind, opting to play on Sunday as well and battling past Zarina Diyas 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and 13 minutes to wrap up an overall win for Great Britain and start a huge celebration with the rest of the squad.
As it turned out, Katie had to pay a great price for this effort, unable to play ever since and suffering a massive drop in the ranking, having to start all over again if she wants to return where she belongs.
