The
British Tennis player on her preparations for the
Australian Open, her battle with injuries and life in lockdown
“It’s something that I struggle with a little,” Katie Boulter says in her hotel room in Melbourne at the end of a long and draining day which began with yet another test for Covid before, finally, she will be free to play tennis in a warm-up tournament next week. “I’m tested every single day here but you just never know what might happen. I’ve taken lots of tests these past few weeks and it’s pretty stressful. I’ve got a couple more to go until the end of quarantine and then hopefully all these stresses can be relieved.”
It’s just after eight on Thursday night in Melbourne and Boulter and I are in the midst of a second interview after we spoke at length last month. The strain of the Covid blues are never far from our conversations even though Boulter is an upbeat 24-year-old who also talks happily about her beloved Leicester City and her renewed hope that she will soon be playing better tennis than she did when ranked world No 82 just before injury struck her down in April 2019.