"I had someone messaging me: I'm going to hurt you" - Katie Boulter shares horrifying anecdote dealing with threatening fan
Katie Boulter has opened up about the threats she and other female tennis players deal with on a daily basis, revealing a stalking incident she happened during her home tournament. Boulter highlighted the dangers of these encounters and WTA's role in mitigating them.
Katie Boulter continued her great progress on the 2024 WTA Tour and reigned as the British No. 1 on the WTA Tour the whole season. The increased attention that comes with good performances has its downsides, and the 28-year-old talked about the hardships she and her WTA peers face.
In an interview with the Guardian, Boulter recalled a harrowing incident while playing the WTA 250 tournament in Nottingham, where a fan threatened to "hurt" her. The Brit revealed that she received a text from a depraved fan stating that he was at the tournament venue and would harm her when she exited. And this was one of many incidents she faced while competing on tour.
“One time in Nottingham, I had someone messaging me on social media saying: ‘I’m outside. I’m going to hurt you if you come outside.’ Obviously I alerted the WTA, and they found the guy, who was actually on site. Things like this happen all the time," the Brit said.
Katie Boulter immediately informed WTA officials about the threat, and they found the person responsible for the texts. The Brit was thankful for WTA's swift response and grateful that she and other players were given such protection.
"Obviously we are very well protected, which makes you feel safe. The WTA does a great job of being there for you with that. I do feel like we are protected as much as possible, which at least puts your mind at ease a little bit,” she added.
Katie Boulter wins two titles on 2024 WTA Tour, breaks into top 25 of ranking
Katie Boulter has sustained her progress on the WTA Tour over the last two years and surged on the WTA ranking for the fourth straight year. After ending the 2023 season at World No. 53 spot, the Brit added two more titles to her resume this year and recorded her best performance at a WTA 1000 tournament.
After a slow start to the season, Boulter won the biggest title of her career at the WTA 500 San Diego by beating the likes of Beatriz Haddad Maia, Donna Vekic, Emma Navarro, and Marta Kostyuk. She then posted a fourth-round finish at the Miami Open and successful title defense at the WTA 250 Nottingham Open.
Interestingly, both of Boulter's titles came in the same week as her boyfriend Alex de Minaur's title wins on the ATP Tour. When Boulter won the San Diego Open on March 4, de Minaur triumphed at the Acapulco Open on March 3. Then, the tennis power couple won grass court titles at 's-Hertogenbosch (ATP) and Nottingham (WTA) in the same week in June.
With these results and a runner-up finish at the WTA 250 Hong Kong Open, Boulter rose to her highest ranking of World No. 23. She ended the year at the World No. 24 spot, for the first time inside the top 25 of the year-end WTA ranking.