"I screamed too loud, people looked at me strange" - Katie Boulter reveals her reaction after receiving Paris Olympics call-up for Great Britain
Katie Boulter is poised to achieve a major career goal: competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Boulter recently recalled her reaction when she first learned about her selection for Team Great Britain's Olympic squad.
Katie Boulter will lead a star-studded tennis lineup for Great Britain at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26. She will be joined by Andy Murray, Jack Draper, Dan Evans, Cameron Norrie, Joe Salisbury, Neal Skupski, and Heather Watson on Team GB. Boulter will compete in the singles as well as the doubles category in Paris.
Boulter will partner with Heather Watson to compete in the women's doubles format. The pair had their practice run on the Parisian clay during the 2024 French Open but did not find any success after losing to No. 13 seed Veronika Kudermetova and Chan Hao-ching in the first round.
Katie Boulter recently looked back at the moment she received a call to join Great Britain's Paris Olympic contingent. The World No. 33 revealed that she was walking down a street when she received a call from Iain Bates, the head of women's tennis at the British Lawn Tennis Association, regarding the Paris Olympics, and she let out a joyous scream that echoed down the street. Boulter remembers people staring at her as she embraced the "special moment."
“I got a phone call from the Head of Women’s Tennis (Iain Bates), and he called me to let me know that I was going to be in the team. I was walking down the street in Loughborough, and I screamed a little bit too loud, so a few people looked at me a little bit strange. I still remember it; it’s going to be a special moment. I’m really looking forward to it and putting on the flag - it’s going to be so fun to be a part of,” Katie Boulter told LTA.
Katie Boulter has won two titles on 2024 WTA Tour
Katie Boulter has been in the best form of her career over the last year. It all began at the Rothesay Open in Nottingham in 2023, where she won her maiden WTA Tour title. Then, on the 2024 WTA Tour, the Brit picked her second and biggest career title so far at the WTA 500 San Diego Open after beating Marta Kostyuk in the title contest.
Boulter rose to her highest-ever ranking of World No. 27 on the WTA Ranking after her triumph in San Diego. She successfully defended her title at Nottingham this year after a hard-fought win against former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in the final. This helped her take the No. 32 seed spot at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, her first seeding at a Grand Slam.
While these are good signs for Boulter heading into the Paris Olympics, her form on the clay court is concerning for someone ranked as high as her. The Brit is yet to win a singles tour-level match on the dirt in her career. However, she did win a couple of matches at the 2024 Paris Challenger, a clay court tournament, which should help her confidence.