Katie Boulter is thriving while her fellow British players are ill or injured

While Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu’s absences from the Madrid Open raise questions about the state of British tennis, Katie Boulter’s impressive return to form offers a respite.

Draper announced his withdrawal from the Madrid Open on Monday, the tournament he reached the final in 12 months previously before losing to Casper Ruud. Raducanu had already announced her decision to miss the Masters 1000 event, her third successive withdrawal on the WTA tour.

Draper’s decision was hardly a surprise. He was forced to withdraw in the first round of the Barcelona Open the previous week with a knee injury that at times left him hopping in pain, but is still targeting a return for the French Open.

“An aggravated tendon in my knee means I am not able to play in Madrid and Rome,” Draper said in a statement. “It’s frustrating for sure but I am thankful it isn’t anything more serious, recovery is going well and I feel good about my chances of being fit for Roland Garros. I am looking forward to building momentum from there.”

In Raducanu’s absence and with Sonay Kartal out of the entire clay court season, Boulter is the sole British player on the women’s side of the draw in Madrid.

A superb start to 2026

To say last year was difficult for Boulter would be an understatement. She started it as the world No 23, but only won three tour matches from Wimbledon to the end of the year and tore an adductor muscle in the final tournament of 2025. She left a pointed comment on Instagram saying: “Adios 2025. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” as she bid to put a turbulent season behind her.

This year has been completely different. In January, Boulter was ranked 115 in the world and on the brink of having to go through qualifying to reach the Australian Open, but she arrived in the Spanish capital a touch over four months later having climbed to 61 in the rankings.

With one title already in the bag from the Ostrava Open in early February, Boulter goes into the biggest tournaments of the clay court season in a good place.

She might not be a natural on clay but training in the upgraded facilities at the National Tennis Centre in south-west London has prepared her for tournaments in Linz and reaching the quarter-finals in Rouen.

What has she done to her game?

At the US Open in 2025, Boulter admitted technical problems affected her serve, saying that if she could sort that “everything else will fall back into place”.

When asked about that same facet of her game last month in Miami, Boulter said: “I thought about it a lot. It was driving me pretty crazy.”

It became such a significant issue that if the serve was not right, the rest of her game would be affected, but that is not the case now.

In the second half of the “Sunshine Double”, Boulter admitted to winning matches with “probably a 50 per cent serve”, so although the technical aspect might not have been resolved, the distinct difference in mental approach means it is no longer having the same impact on the rest of her game.

The mentality and focus shift can be attributed to a decision made after last year’s “rollercoaster” when Boulter appointed Maria Sharapova’s former coach, American Michael Joyce, ending a three-year relationship with Biljana Veselinovic.

As a comparison, during the time Boulter worked with Veselinovic, her compatriot Raducanu spent time on court with no less than six coaches: Dmitry Tursonov, Sebastian Sachs, Nick Cavaday, Vlado Platenik, Mark Petchey and Francisco Roig.

Under the guidance of Joyce, Boulter has learned a lot about how to approach matches while also working with a specialised fitness trainer.

After chasing the tour last year following a stress fracture in her foot, throwing herself into rehab that led to her feeling “a little burnt out”, Boulter has a different approach this year.

She has gone back to basics when it comes to training blocks and recovery time and took time off to recover mentally. It has paid dividends.

Wedding planning and personal stability

Boulter has often spoken about the support from her fiance, fellow tennis player Alex De Minaur, and how it has not only improved her experiences away from court but even encouraged her to win matches.

As the highest-profile couple in the sport, it is something they play up to, including bets on who will do the other’s laundry based on the outcome of a competitive go-kart race on the Formula One track that surrounds the Hard Rock Stadium where the Miami Open is held.

There were recent photos on social media posted from a hen do with Boulter in a veil and white dress on a camping trip with fellow tennis players including Jodie Burrage, with everyone smiling and reflecting on a positive weekend away from the sport.

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With the two set to get married this summer it is clear that off the court, Boulter is happy. Although both have said that the impact of the demanding tennis schedule is such that their wedding planning has been affected.