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The Queen’s Club ATP 500 tournament has suffered a triple blow as three big-name players have withdrawn, but their absence is good news for Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper in their bid to be seeded fourth at Wimbledon.

2024 finalists Tommy Paul and Lorenzo Musetti will not return to the grass-court tournament this with two-time former champion Matteo Berrettini also withdrawing.

American Paul won the biggest title of his career last year when he defeated Musetti in straight sets in the final while Berrettini lifted back-to-back trophies in 2021 and 2022.

But the trio will be absent when the main draw is made on Saturday with defending champion Paul confirming he is struggling with an injury.

“I’m crushed I will not play Queen’s next week. I sadly am still recovering from my abdominal strain and need some more time to get fully fit. I look forward to getting back on the grass,” he wrote on Instagram.

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Musetti was one of the form players during the grass-court season as he finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the Monte Carlo Masters and also made the semi-finals at the Madrid Open, Italian Open and Roland Garros.

But his French Open last-four match against Alcaraz was cut short by a thigh injury and now that same problem has forced him out of the Queen’s Club tournament.

Berrettini, meanwhile, missed Roland Garros due to a right oblique injury.

ATP Rankings implications

Musetti’s inability to play will have an impact on the ATP Rankings positions and Wimbledon seedings.

The Italian is currently ranked seventh in the Live Rankings with Paul sitting one place below them, but Musetti was in with a chance of being seeded fourth at Wimbledon.

Djokovic has moved up to fourth place in the live standings as he doesn’t have any points to defend ahead of the grass Grand Slam as he sits on 4,630 points with Draper on 4,550, Taylor Fritz on 4,535, Musetti on 4,470 and Paul a distant eighth with 3,470.

Musetti won’t play the week after Queen’s Club so he is out of the running to be seeded fourth while Draper has 100 points to defend from 2024 before he can add to his current rankings tally.

Fritz now appears to be the man to beat as he is currently in action at the Stuttgart Open while he will also play in London next week where he will only drop 100 points.

The top-three seeds for Wimbledon have already been confirmed Jannik Sinner the No 1 seed for the second consecutive year and he will be followed by defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will Alexander Zverev third.

The post Novak Djokovic, Jack Draper, Taylor Fritz handed Wimbledon seedings boost appeared first on Tennis365.

The 2025 grass-court swing is in full flow and all the top players will be heading to Germany for week two as they have signed up for the Berlin Tennis Open.

The tournament in the German capital is a WTA 500 event so there will be plenty of points up for grabs during the main draw with organisers also confirming a total financial commitment of €949,000 (just over $1m).

And the best in women’s tennis will compete in Berlin as nine of the top 10 in WTA Rankings have signed up while a total of seven Grand Slam winners will feature.

World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka leads the list of seeds while world No 3 Jessica Pegula will be back to defend her title.

Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini, Zheng Qinwen, Mirra Andreeva, Madison Keys and Paula Badosa are the top eight seeds.

The only top-10 player missing from the field is five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek.

Besides reigning major winners Sabalenka, Gauff and Keys, former Slam champions Elena Rybakina, Marketa Vondrousva, Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka will also play in Berlin.

The Berlin event is the only Wimbledon warm-up tournament for the likes of Sabalenka and Gauff while Pegula, Keys, Zheng, Rybakina and Raducanu have signed up for other events ahead of the grass-court Grand Slam.

Points on offer 2025 Berlin Ladies Open

It is a WTA 500 event so a handy haul of points are on offer for those who make it past the first round.

First round: 1 point
Second round: 60 points
Quarter-finals: 108 points
Semi-finals: 195 points
Finalist: 325 points
Champion: 500 points

Of course, the WTA Rankings uses a rolling 52-week, cumulative system so players will drop/defend points they earned during the corresponding period in 2024.

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Pegula stands to lose a lot as she is the defending champion so will defend 500 points while Gauff lost in the semi-final so will drop 195 points. Sabalenka and Rybakina retired in the quarter-final so will drop 108 points.

2025 Prize money on offer…

Gauff earned €2,550,000 (about $2,9m) after winning the French Open last week while Sabalenka went home with a cheque of €1,275,000 ($1,4m) after finishing runner-up at Roland Garros.

The prize money is a lot lower at WTA 500 events, but there is a nice increase from 2024 as Pegula won €123,480 for her title while the runner-up received €76,225.

This year it is up by 15% as the champion will boost her bank account by €142,610.

First round: €9,829
Second round: €13,651
Quarter-finals: €24,950
Semi-finals: €51,305
Finalist: €87,825
Champion: €142,610

The post 2025 Berlin Tennis Open prize money and points: How much can Sabalenka, Gauff, Raducanu earn? appeared first on Tennis365.

The British No 1 ranking will change hands when the WTA Rankings is updated next week as Emma Raducanu will replace Katie Boulter at the top.

But despite the fight, the competition between Britain’s top two women’s players remains healthy and they have vowed to continue to support each other, although Boulter has told Raducanu “it’s kind of my turn” to turn up the heat.

Boulter had been Great Britain’s top-ranked woman in the rankings since June 2023 when she took over from Raducanu following the 2021 US Open winner’s two-year spell as No 1.

But Boulter’s early loss at the Queen’s Club event, coupled with Raducanu’s run to the quarter-final will result in them swapping places.

Raducanu, who is projected to rise to No 36 after the tournament, stated: “I wouldn’t say it’s the most important thing for me. I think having Katie in front, it was nice for me to have something to chase.

“Now I’m sure she’s going to enjoy that with me. The grass season is still young, and so is the rest of the season.

“But regardless, we have a healthy competition between us two. I want to see her do well; she wants to see me do well.”

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Boulter, meanwhile, will is expected to slip five spots to No 39 as she was also defending 250 points from her title run at the Nottingham Open a year ago.

“Tennis is a funny one,” the three-time WTA Tour singles title winner said. “Some people lose 250 points one week, some people lose zero, some people lose 100. It’s something that happens every single week.

“I’m very well aware that I lost 250 this week, because Nottingham is next week and the scheduling’s been different. Of course I personally want to be getting my ranking moving in the right direction.

“I’m very happy for her to be British No 1. But at the same time, it’s going to be fun for me to chase her now, and I think she’s been doing that for a while. Now it’s kind of my turn.”

Raducanu, of course, will move even further ahead of Boulter in the rankings if she reaches the semi-final at Queen’s Club.

But it won’t be easy as she will face top seed Zheng Qinwen in the quarter-final.

The world No 5 overcame a second-set slump to beat American Mccartney Kessler in the second round.

“Qinwen’s obviously top 10 in the world, had an amazing year, great last couple of tournaments last few months on the tour, and I think she’s very dangerous, top seed, definitely the favourite,” Raducanu said.

“But I think I have had two good matches here, and looking forward … I’m just trying to stay as focused as I possibly can.”

The post What Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter had to say about British No 1 ranking appeared first on Tennis365.

Rafael Nadal has claimed that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are “far above the rest” of the ATP field after being asked about Sunday’s thrilling French Open final.

In a contest that lasted five hours and 29 minutes, Alcaraz rallied from two sets down to stun world No 1 Sinner 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2), saving three championship points in an extraordinary battle.

It was Alcaraz’s fifth Grand Slam title from as many finals and a second straight French Open title, having previously beaten Alexander Zverev in the 2024 final.

He and Sinner have now combined to win the past six Grand Slam titles, with Novak Djokovic at the 2023 US Open the last player outside of those two to win a major.

Alcaraz has won back-to-back Roland Garros titles and the 2024 Wimbledon title, while Sinner has taken home consecutive Australian Opens and the 2024 US Open title.

With Nadal and Roger Federer now both retired, and Djokovic aged 38, many had wondered about whether new stars would emerge in the post-‘Big Three’ era.

But Sinner and Alcaraz have both proven to be incredibly comfortable towards the top of the men’s game, with no obvious challenger to their dominance outside of Djokovic.

And, speaking at a charity golf tournament on Thursday, 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal hailed the “new stars” who were taking charge of the men’s game.

“Tennis is more important than any player,” said Nadal.

“There will always be Grand Slam champions and each will make their way, new stars emerge and here they are.

“There are two players far above the rest, they are showing that they are great champions, and let them make their way. This is the reality, tennis is in good hands.”

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This year’s French Open started with an emotional tribute to Nadal, the man who came to define the event throughout his career.

The 39-year-old amassed a staggering 112-4 win-loss record at the tournament and won 14 men’s singles titles, eight more than Bjorn Borg’s previous record of six.

Alcaraz is the first person since Nadal to successfully defend the title at Roland Garros and looks set to be the successor to his compatriot’s clay-court dominance.

The world No 2 lifted the Monte Carlo and Rome titles this spring before winning his second French Open, and has now triumphed at all four of the biggest events on clay.

He had previously lifted the Madrid Open title in 2022 and 2023, withdrawing from this year’s event due to injury.

Alcaraz is the first man since Nadal at the 2022 Australian Open to come from two sets down in a Grand Slam final, and revealed after the final he had taken inspiration from his idol’s fighting spirit.

Asked about Alcaraz’s comments, Nadal admitted that he was pleased to hear that his compatriot had taken such inspiration.

He added: “If he [Alcaraz] already has the capacity to think of me at that moment, then he’s already amazing. Very happy for him.”

Alcaraz is set to return to action at the Queen’s Club next week, where he has played for the past two years.

That will build into his Wimbledon campaign, where he will look to win a third straight title.

Read Next: The 10 greatest Grand Slam men’s singles finals of the Open Era – ranked!

The post Rafael Nadal delivers Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner verdict after epic French Open final appeared first on Tennis365.

Emma Raducanu stormed into the quarter-finals of the WTA 500 tournament at the Queen’s Club with a thrilling win against Rebecca Sramkova in front of a big London crowd.

The 2021 US Open champion produced a classy display to see off a rival who was hitting the ball with more venom for much of the match, yet Raducanu found a way to repel the firepower coming at her and get over the line.

“I am really pleased to get through that,” said Raducanu.

“I don’t think it was my cleanest performance but I am really pleased to push through in the tight moments. I really appreciate the support in that spell when she was coming back.

“I came out ready, expecting everything I am just happy I was able to get off to a good start and build a lead.”

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This was a strange match that saw Raducanu storm into a 5-0 lead in the first set before being pegged back in what turned out to be a nervous conclusion that saw her take the set 6-4.

She then wrapped up the second set 6-1 to seal a big haul of ranking points as she made another quarter-final at WTA 500 level and cemented her status as British No 1 once again.

Yet from Tennis365’s perch high in the stands at the Queen’s Club, a clear issue was evident to witness that will continue to undermine Raducanu.

While she has made notable improvements on her serve in the last few months under the watch of coach Mark Petchey, the power in her ground shots does not appear to have enough potency to challenge the best players in women’s tennis.

When Raducanu won the US Open almost four years ago, she appeared to be capable of striking her opponents off the court, but that pace and venom in her shots is lacking right now.

She can generate good pace as she constantly attacks the second serve of her opponents, but Sramkova had more firepower throughout this match and the primary reason why Raducanu sealed what appeared to be a comfortable win was the waywardness of her opponent from the back of the court.

Sramkova’s frustrations were evident as she constantly overhit her shots from the back of the court, with the played ranked just below Raducanu in the live WTA Rankings prior to this match beating herself as she handed Raducanu too many free points.

Raducanu’s coach Mark Petchey highlighted this issue after Raducanu was blown away by Iga Swiatek in the second round of the French Open, as he suggested the balls are impacting her striking power.

“From my point of view, it’s tough on Emma as I still feel everyone is living in 2021,” said Petchey, who has been coaching Raducanu in an “informal” arrangement since March.

“The games have changed massively. The balls are four times heavier than back in 2021 and Emma isn’t the biggest hitter out there.

“If you can’t put the ball through the court on a windy, heavy clay court day against someone like Iga, you’re going to get into all sorts of trouble.”

The game’s biggest hitters are not playing at the Queen’s Club this week and that is giving Raducanu a real chance to push to be part of the action over the weekend.

She is also closing in on a position in the top 32 of the WTA Rankings, which would be enough to secure her a seeding for Wimbledon later this month.

READ NEXT: Why Katie Boulter’s Queen’s loss spells good news for Emma Raducanu

The post Emma Raducanu seals a huge win at Queen’s Club – but she still has one big problem appeared first on Tennis365.

At two sets up and with three Championship points on his side in the French Open final, Jannik Sinner could be forgiven for thinking he had finally overcome his Carlos Alcaraz hurdle.

Separated by just a couple of years in age, the pair have come up through the tennis scene together but in their early encounters, it was Sinner who had the edge.

Their first meeting came at the 2021 Paris Masters, and although Alcaraz may have been victorious, he needed two tiebreaks to defeat his Italian counterpart.

But that opening victory proved to be an exception rather than the rule as Sinner went on to win four out of the next six, defeating Alcaraz on grass, clay and hard courts. A duo of wins for the Spaniard in the US came sandwiched between a dominant run for Sinner which saw him emerge as the next best contender for supremacy in tennis.

But since 2024, there has been a swift reversal of that dominance. In their last five matches, Alcaraz has won them all. Their last three meetings have all come in finals, the two before that were semis. Alcaraz has won on both hard and clay courts. In four of those five matches, the Spaniard has come from one set down to win.

Whether that fact was in the mind of Sinner as he watched three Championship points become two then one then zero in Paris, only he will know but the nature of the all-time classic final has undoubtedly given Alcaraz a mental edge in a rivalry that many believe will dominate tennis for the next era.

While the likes of Novak Djokovic can never be fully ruled out, there is a general acceptance that Sinner and Alcaraz are the best the men’s side of the game currently has to offer and as such, the winner of the Slams for years to come is for them to decide.

Since 2022, the pair have spent 73 weeks at the top of the rankings and look unlikely to relinquish that anytime soon. But even if these two are considered the best, a truly great rivalry can only be that if wins are traded.

Alcaraz’s recent form means this particular rivalry is threatening to become not much of one at all. In Sinner’s three Slam wins, he has never defeated Alcaraz on the way to the trophy.

Meanwhile, in three of Alcaraz’s five wins, he has knocked Sinner out on the way. Whether mental or purely physical, Alcaraz has unquestionably become a roadblock for Sinner.

This run of dominance is not unique in tennis history. John McEnroe defeated Jimmy Connors 11 times in a row. Novak Djokovic reached seven consecutive victories over Rafa Nadal on two occasions. Nadal beat the Serb and Roger Federer five times, doing so to the Swiss on three occasions. But the crucial aspect is that the losing side always fought back.

At 23, it is too early to declare Sinner an almost-man but he must start to reverse the trend quickly if this rivalry is to last the test of time.

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After their showdown on the clay of Roland Garros, the grass court season will be the next battleground for the pair. To begin with, they will get some warm-up matches in differing tournaments with Sinner participating in the Halle Open while Alcaraz heads for Queen’s but Wimbledon at the end of this month poses a tantalising prospect already.

Grass has at least been kind to Sinner in this match-up with him winning their only meeting on the surface in 2022 but you get a sense it is now or never for the 23-year-old who is enduring the toughest year of his career to date.

An Australian Open win has been a bright spark in a year of controversy and time spent on the sideline. The French Open final defeat was one that could cripple even the best young talents but if Alcaraz is the embodiment of fiery passion, Sinner must access the cold killer aspect of his personality.

Despite what will happen, Sinner will retain his No. 1 status after the Championships but if it is Alcaraz who emerges victorious, everyone will know who tennis’ true force is.

Read next: Aryna Sabalenka’s controversial French Open comments defended by former world No 1

The post Jannik Sinner must overcome his Carlos Alcaraz kryptonite if tennis’ next great rivalry is to survive appeared first on Tennis365.

The 2025 Berlin Tennis Open will boast a star-studded field with seven Grand Slam winners on the entry list for the WTA 500 tournament.

In fact, nine of the top 10 players in the current WTA Rankings will feature in Germany with world No 7 Iga Swiatek the only player missing from the list.

To emphasise the quality of the field, Ludmilla Samsonova and Ekaterina Alexandrova are currently at No 18 and No 20, respectively, in the rankings, but they have been forced to enter the qualifying competition along with the likes of Sofia Kenin and Ons Jabeur.

“If you’re ranked No 20 in the world of tennis and that’s not enough to make it into the main draw, that definitely says something about the calibre of the draw,” tournament director Andrea Petkovic stated.

How many players will be in the main draw of the Berlin Tennis Open?

This year marks the 98th edition of the tournament as it was previously known as the German Open. Former winners include Steffi Graf, who it a record nine times, Monica Seles and Ons Jabeur and Petra Kvitova.

This year’s tournament is a 28-player event with four gaining entry thanks to a wildcard, one using a protected ranking while another six will book their spots during the qualifying competition.

Who are the top-10 players in the draw?

As mentioned earlier, it is more a case of who is not in the draw with five-time major winner Swiatek the only one missing.

Reigning world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka leads the entry list and she is followed by newly crowned French Open champion Coco Gauff with Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Zheng Qinwen, Mirra Andreeva, Madison Keys and Paula Badosa completing the top eight.

They are also the top eight seeds and the top four (Sabalenka, Gauff, Pegula and Paolini) will receive byes into the second round.

Pegula is the defending champion as she defeated Anna Kalinskaya in the 2024 final.

Players with wildcards and protected rankings in the draw…

So far three of the four wildcards have been confirmed with two Grand Slam winners among them as four-time major champion Naomi Osaka and 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu got the nod.

Rising German star Eva Lys will also be in the main draw after receiving a wildcard while former world No 4 Belinda Bencic has used her protected ranking.

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And the Grand Slam winners who will play are…

A total of seven major winners will feature with Osaka (4) and Sabalenka (3) leading the way. Gauff is now a two-time major champion while Keys, Elena Rybakina, Marketa Vondrousova and Raducanu have each won one Grand Slam.

When is the draw?

The players will find out their paths for the 2025 tournament on Saturday, June 14 at 11:00 local time while the main draw matches will get underway on Monday, June 16 with the final being staged on Sunday, June 22.

Confirmed Berlin Tennis Open Singles Entry List

1. Aryna Sabalenka
2. Coco Gauff
3. Jessica Pegula
4. Jasmine Paolini
5. Zheng Qinwen
6. Mirra Andreeva
7. Madison Keys
8. Paola Badosa
Emma Navarro
Elena Rybakina
Diana Shnaider
Karolina Muchova
Amanda Anisimova
Daria Kasatkina
Donna Vekic
Marketa Vondrousova
Naomi Osaka (WC)
Emma Raducanu (WC)
Eva Lys (WC)
Belinda Bencic (PR)

The post 2025 Berlin Tennis Open Entry List: Sabalenka, Gauff, Raducanu playing. When is the draw? appeared first on Tennis365.

Jannik Sinner’s reign as world No 1 will continue despite his defeat in an epic French Open final against Carlos Alcaraz, with his reputation enhanced after an epic contest in Paris.

Sinner will rue the three match points that passed him by in the five-set classic against Alcaraz, with the Italian left to lick his wounds as his big rival stormed back to win a match hailed by many observers as one of the greatest of all-time in tennis.

The dust is settling on the dramatic events at Roland Garros and in an exclusive interview with Tennis365, former world No 1 Mats Wilander has given his verdict on why Sinner is sitting in that prized ranking position he once owned.

Speaking to Tennis365 in an interview conducted at Roland Garros while he was working as a TNT Sports analyst, Wilander picked out the reason why Sinner is able to blow away all of his opponents, apart from the brilliant Alcaraz.

“I’ve seen players hit the ball harder than Jannik, but not a guy who hits it this hard and takes it this early,” Wilander told Tennis365. “Sinner is the real deal, there’s no doubt about it.

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“The combination of taking it early and hitting it that hard is what is so incredible with Sinner. It is much more difficult to hit that hard and that consistently when you take it so early.

“We have seen a lot of guys standing three metres behind the baseline on a clay court and smacking it hard, as they have time to line the ball up and get that connection on it.

“Sinner is not doing that. He is standing up on the baseline, he is hitting the ball so hard and I’ve never seen anyone in my time in tennis who has that combination of hitting the ball so hard and taking it so early.

“You can see the impact it is having on his opponents as they simply don’t have the time to get into position to trade with him. It is remarkable the speed both Sinner and Alcaraz are playing the game right now.”

Wilander is wary of comparing the current stars of the men’s game to the Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, with those three icons all winning 20 or more Grand Slam titles in their record-breaking careers.

Yet Wilander is convinced Sinner and Alcaraz have the potential to take the sport to the next level, as he hints they may be there already.

“It feels to me like this is another level,” he added. “It doesn’t mean that they are better than Federer at his best, or Nadal and Djokovic at their best.

“Maybe they make more mistakes, but the game is faster. They make more mistakes than Djokovic and Nadal when they were at their best and that’s why it’s so hard to compare the different eras.

“You need to bring Nadal’s mindset into this discussion. You need to bring in Djokovic’s ability to figure out what is going on and giving what they don’t want.

“That’s why I like Novak hanging around and trying to test himself against these guys.”

Sinner will now be looking to win his first Wimbledon title when the next Grand Slam gets underway at the end of this month and he is due to play at the Halle grass court event in Germany next week.

Alcaraz has entered the prestigious ATP 500 tournament at the Queen’s Club in London, where he lifted the title in 2023.

TNT Sports will screen highlights of Wimbledon this year and will show the All England Club finals live.

READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz addresses greatest Grand Slam final talk after French Open epic

The post Jannik Sinner is ‘the best of all-time’ in one key area claims former world No 1 appeared first on Tennis365.

Tennis icon Jimmy Connors has come to the defence of Aryna Sabalenka after the world No 1 faced criticism for comments she made after the French Open final.

Sabalenka was beaten 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 by Coco Gauff in the Roland Garros final on Saturday, a second straight major final defeat after losing to Madison Keys at the Australian Open back in January.

The three-time Grand Slam champion was visibly upset when delivering her runner-up speech inside Court Philippe Chatrier, and did not hide her frustration about her performance.

“Obviously, guys [the crowd], this one hurts so much, especially after such a tough two weeks, playing great tennis,” Sabalenka said.

“To show such terrible tennis in the final really hurts. Anyway, congrats Coco, you were a better player than me.

“Well done on a great two weeks and a second Grand Slam, well deserved, You are a fighter and a hard worker, so congrats to you and your team.”

Sabalenka doubled down on her assessment of the match in her press conference shortly afterwards, claiming that she had handed Gauff too many unforced errors.

The Belarusian also controversially claimed that Iga Swiatek, whom she had beaten in the semi-final, would have likely beaten Gauff in the final.

Sabalenka has clarified her comments in recent days, congratulating Gauff in an Instagram story and claiming that she did not mean to disrespect the world No 2.

While she has faced criticism from the likes of Chris Evert, she has also faced criticism from outside the tennis world, with a strong reaction to her comments on social media.

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However, she has now found a welcome form of defence in the form of Connors, who finished as the runner-up at seven Grand Slam tournaments across his career.

Speaking on his podcast Advantage Connors, the eight-time champion claimed most of Sabalenka’s critics “don’t know” what is going through her or any player’s head after such a defeat.

The US icon also suggested that players should be given more time after matches before giving speeches or press conferences.

He said: “After a tough match, whether it’s the finals or the French or Wimbledon or whatever, everyone wants to hear your thoughts right away.

“Maybe it would be better to give you five minutes and let the players take a breath – but they want to hear it right away, they want the scoop. And then they are critical of it.

“That’s why it’s always been a crawl in my whatever. These guys think they know what they are talking about when they have not done it.

“You can sit there and say I have saw this and I have watched so much tennis I know what’s in your mind. You don’t know what’s in my mind! You have no clue.

“And, by the way, not every player has the same thing going through their mind, everybody is an individual. So let the players take a breath sometimes.”

Sabalenka is currently set to return to action at the Berlin Open next week, where she will look to get valuable grass-court matches under her belt ahead of Wimbledon.

Wimbledon is now the only Slam where the Belarusian has not reached the final, having twice been beaten in semi-final matches at the All England Club.

Read Next: The ranking points Sabalenka, Gauff, Swiatek, Raducanu and top WTA stars are defending on grass

The post Aryna Sabalenka’s controversial French Open comments defended by former world No 1 appeared first on Tennis365.

Katie Boulter has scaled new heights in tennis over the last couple of years and now she has revealed of her fiancé, Alex de Minaur, has been crucial in her development on and off the court.

Roll the clock back to April 2023 and Boulter was ranked outside of the top 250 in the women’s game, with the elegant British player struggling to breakthrough at the top of the game.

That was before she landed her first WTA Tour title at the Nottingham Open and by September of that year, she was knocking on the door of the top 50 of the WTA Rankings.

She has managed to maintain her position at the top of the women’s game over the last two years after winning her first WTA 500 title in San Diego and then successfully defending her title in Nottingham last June.

Boulter’s career has gone to new heights since she started dating top ten player De Minaur and she told us that the impact her fiancé has had on her life and career has been immense.

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“Alex has been a huge influence on my journey,” Boulter told Tennis365 in her role as an ambassador for BRITA.

“His support, both emotionally and in terms of advice and perspective, has helped me grow, not just as a player, but as a person. Having someone in your corner who truly believes in you makes a big difference when you’re trying to push through tough moments.”

Boulter is playing in the brand new WTA 500 tournament at the Queen’s Club this week, with De Minaur in the stands to watch her win a tough opening match against Ajla Tomljanovic on Tuesday.

It revived memories of Boulter watching De Minaur playing in the men’s event at Queen’s Club, where he lost in the final against Carlos Alcaraz two years ago.

“I have such fond memories of watching him at Queen’s,” she continued. “I have my own connection to watching tennis at Queen’s with Alex playing and now he is watching me. It was a nice little role reversal and hopefully he can be there for many more of my matches.

“This is one of the most special times of the year for me. Playing in front of a home crowd brings a different kind of energy, there’s definitely some nerves, but mostly I feel excited and motivated. The support from the fans is something I never take for granted; it pushes me to give everything on court.”

Boulter is setting her sights high this summer, as she is targeting a seeding at Wimbledon and admits her biggest goal is landing the title at the All England Club.

The 28-year-old is close to securing a seeding for Wimbledon, which gets underway at the end of this month, and she admits that would boost her hopes.

“My dream would be to win a Grand Slam,” she told us. “It’s the pinnacle of our sport and something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid. Not just for the trophy, but for what it represents, years of hard work, resilience, and the belief that anything is possible.

“I would love to be seeded for Wimbledon. It does make a difference in terms of ranking-wise who you play, but at the same time, it’s not my sole focus.

“I just want to build a bit of momentum coming into the grass season. I want to get as many matches under my belt before I get to Wimbledon, which is very important, which is why I have actually entered three tournaments before Wimbledon to see what I can get out of myself.”

Boulter prominence at the top of the British game has ensured she is attracting some big-name sponsors, with BRITA the latest to sign her up as a brand ambassador.

“Partnering with BRITA felt like a natural fit for me,” added Boulter. “Hydration is such a critical part of my routine both on and off the court, and BRITA’s commitment to encourage mindful choices that do better for your mind, body & planet aligns with my values. It’s great to work with a brand that not only supports performance but is also driving sustainable change in British Tennis.

“At this level, even small margins make a huge difference. If I’m not properly hydrated, it affects my energy, focus, and recovery. Hydration helps me stay sharp mentally and physically throughout long matches, especially in tough conditions.”

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