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Britain's Katie Boulter says she feels she has to "choose between my physical health and my ranking" as the scramble continues for a place in next January's Australian Open main draw.

While the typical WTA Tour competitive period is over, there are still ranking points to be won in Chile, regional locations, multiple sites and France.

The women's participant roster for the first Grand Slam of the 2026 season will be based on the world rankings of 8 December, which could cause a challenging situation for athletes near the qualification line.

Health Challenges

Former British number one Boulter suffered an groin injury in her last tournament of the year in international locations last month, and is now considering whether to play in the WTA 125 secondary tournament in European venues, the European nation, in the first week of December.

Boulter's recent injury, and the situation she would need to achieve at least several wins in the French tournament to boost her ranking, means she may well end up not playing.

Different Systems

In contrast, men's competitors are not facing the equivalent situation, as for the initial instance the male Australian Open entry list will be established from this week's rankings, which is the ATP's formal year-end standing calculation.

The change is designed to discouraging players from chasing standing points during what is essentially the rest interval.

Professional Adjustments

This year has been a difficult one for Boulter.

She achieved merely fourteen Tour-level major tournament matches and recently parted ways with trainer Biljana Veselinovic after a extended working relationship in which she captured several WTA titles.

"Biljana is an exceptional instructor, and an extremely good human as well, which makes things extremely hard," Boulter stated.

The search for a different trainer is well under way, looking for an individual who has elite expertise as Boulter continues to think she can be a top-20 player.

Professional Aspirations

"Progressing with a new coach, an important factor I'm completely sure on is that they are going to be an individual who has considerable experience in how to advance to the very top level of this profession," she said.

"I've been positioned as advanced as 23 and I know I can climb back there. I don't think my standard has disappeared, I feel the consistency must improve.

"My goal is not to be positioned fifty, 40, 30, twenty - we've been there. The aim is to be within the elite group."