{"id":378340,"date":"2025-08-27T18:56:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T18:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/378340\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T18:56:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T18:56:17","slug":"katie-boulter-admits-the-area-of-her-game-she-needs-to-address-after-losing-in-the-us-open-first-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/378340\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie Boulter\u00a0admits\u00a0the area of her game she needs to address after losing in the US Open first round"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Katie Boulter has crashed out of the US Open in the first round.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The draw had opened up for the British star<\/a> after the shock exit of Madison Keys. However, Boulter was unable to take advantage, losing to 27th Marta Kostyuk in the US Open first round.<\/p>\n

The former British number one has struggled for form this summer, picking up just one win across four tournaments since Wimbledon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Ukrainian outshone Boulter, winning 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"MartaPhoto by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

After the match, Boulter spoke to reporters and pinpointed an area of her game that she needs to focus on in the future.<\/p>\n

Katie Boulter says her serve needs addressing<\/p>\n

Losing in the first round of a Grand Slam is tough for any player: no less so for Katie Boulter.<\/p>\n

However, the British star was candid about her performance when speaking to reporters, identifying her serve as an issue in her game.<\/p>\n

This is an understandable point made by Boulter when considering she served eight double faults in her match against Kostyuk.<\/p>\n

Some of the WTA Tour\u2019s best athletes, including Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, have employed coaches to assist with their struggling serves<\/a>. Perhaps this is something Boulter could consider moving forward<\/p>\n

When asked for her thoughts regarding how she played, Boulter said: \u201cI think there was definitely a mix of how I was playing today. I felt like off the ground I was much better than I have been the last few weeks, which is promising. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good step forward in terms of that. Obviously there was the odd point here or there where it was a little cheap but that is part of tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, for me I need to address the serving. I mean, we\u2019ve been trying so many different things but nothing is quite working yet. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think that side of my game needs to improve and I think if I can sort that everything else will fall back into place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former British number one was then asked if she felt her serving issues are technical or mental.<\/p>\n

Boulter replied: \u201c<\/strong>Probably a combination. Honestly I\u2019m not sure. I think, look, I mean we\u2019re changing balls, we\u2019re changing conditions. We\u2019re changing everything every week and to find some sort of consistency within that is what I\u2019m searching for at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there are some places I go and I serve, and I serve much better. I think last week I served better again and I got comfortable with it and then the moment you go into another place it\u2019s like you got to adjust again and I haven\u2019t quite found that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think I\u2019ll probably be searching for a few answers in that direction going forward but I think in terms of physically, in terms of game wise on the court, I think I matched her well, I think I returned decently well. Considering my form hasn\u2019t been great I think it was a relatively competitive match.\u201d<\/p>\n

The British star was then asked for more detail regarding what she is hoping to correct on serve.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old responded: \u201c<\/strong>Well there\u2019s multiple things really. I probably won\u2019t go into full detail because I don\u2019t want people knowing exactly what I\u2019m working on. <\/p>\n

\"KatiePhoto by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think there\u2019s just trying to find a rhythm on it. I think sometimes I can lose the rhythm on it, and then I sometimes wonder\u2026 I don\u2019t fully commit to the serve that I\u2019m trying to go for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tend to get caught in between committing to the serve and just trying to put it in and not be charity. But at this level, putting the serve in the court is not going to get it done. I think she\u2019s a great returner no matter what you do. She\u2019s going to step up and return well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think just having the variation and being able to change what I\u2019m doing and feel comfortable in those situations I think needs to improve really.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think ultimately using different types of serves is really important at this level, and it\u2019s something I have to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katie Boulter\u2019s serving woes<\/p>\n

Boulter registered a mixed serving display against Marta Kostyuk.<\/p>\n

While the British star remained comfortable on her first serve, making a total of 76 per cent across the match, she struggled mightily on her second serve.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In fact, Boulter only won 24 per cent of her second serve points against Kostyuk. Boulter also failed to hit a single ace, whilst Kostyuk managed nine.<\/p>\n

The Brit will need to correct her form soon. Boulter has failed to put together a strong run at a tournament since the Nottingham Open in June, where she reached the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Boulter will likely move down the rankings after the US Open as she reached the second round in 2024 and will therefore lose ranking points. Ranked 48th in the world, the Brit must find a way to recapture some of the form that saw her reach world number 23 and prevent a significant rankings slide in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katie Boulter has crashed out of the US Open in the first round. The draw had opened up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[1069,79,1068,16,15,18056,101908],"class_list":{"0":"post-378340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-katie-boulter","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-us-open-tennis","14":"tag-wta-tennis-players"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115102258776188721","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}