Tennis

Katie Boulter suffers loss in a comeback game

British tennis player, Katie Boulter, has lost her bid to come back into the game of tennis after a six-month injury with a win.

The 10th highest British player in the WTA rankings lost to Joanna Garland, who is the world’s number 646 in Thailand on her return to the court.

The 23-year-old player made her return by competing on the ITF Tour. The last time she was in action was April due to a back stress fracture.

Katie, who struggled to get a grip of the game against her opponent, lost in a tight first set on a tie-break. The British couldn’t up to her game as she was dominated by her Taiwanese opponent in the second round recording a 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 loss.

She took to her Twitter page after the game and wrote: “To get through the hardest journey we need to take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.”

She is no doubt ready to give up on her career as she keeps stepping.
It could be recalled that Boulter got injured in a Great Britain Fed Cup tie against Kazakhstan, but was pain-free in October.

She moved up the ranks before the injury getting to be British number two and ranked 85th in the world before the injury. She is now world number 352.

Boulter has not been lucky against setbacks in the game. In 2015, she suffered from a fatigue illness and was out of the game for a year. On her return, she is now cautious over-training or playing too hectic a schedule.

It could be recalled that Boulter started the year 2019 on a strong note when she reached the second round of the Australian Open. In the game, she impressed her opponent, 11th seed Aryna Sabalenka.

She proceeded to win five of the six singles rubbers she played when Britain returned to the Fed Cup World Group for the first time in 26 years.

She had in an interview said that watching on as her friends played Wimbledon was the lowest point.

Boulter, who missed the US Open, had also said that she didn’t regret traveling France for the Roland Garros, which she later pulled out from. This made her get half of the first-round prize money of 46,000 euros.

Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed