Support truly
independent journalism
Katie Boulter accepted she did not have the winning mentality during her “horrendous” straight-sets defeat to Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the US Open.
The British number one had said it was time for her to start producing deep runs at grand slams after her opening-round win on Tuesday, but it will not be in New York this year.
Boulter was outplayed throughout her 7-5 7-5 defeat to the world number 74 to end British interest in the women’s draw.
“I feel like I played that match not wanting to lose rather than trying to win,” she said.
“That’s something that I have to remind myself of, that I’m here to win.
“I’m not just trying to get through a match. And I think when I’m more positive with myself and my game, that’s when I’m winning matches.
“I think my mentality today needed to be a little bit more aggressive, and I wasn’t quite that.
“I still put myself in a great position in the first set to win the set, and if I’d stepped in maybe a little bit more on that forehand line, then it could be in totally different match. But I didn’t.
“So, I have to remind myself that I’m an aggressive player. I’m not here to just put the ball in the court, and that’s how I’m going to win matches.”
She was heard saying to her team on courtside that “everything was horrendous” as her best game deserted her.
Much like Harriet Dart’s exit to Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk on Wednesday, the match hinged on the first set and Boulter looked in a good position when she broke to go 4-2 up.
But from that point the Spaniard dictated the match, cleverly moving Boulter around the court to win.
Boulter accepted that it was a match she had to win, but did row back slightly on her ambitions to produce deep runs at a major tournament.
“I have to win these matches. It’s a no-brainer for me to progress in a tournament, you have to win the second round.
I feel like I played that match not wanting to lose rather than trying to win— Katie Boulter
“So to get into the third round, you got to win the second and to get in the fourth, you got to win the third.
“So I have to win that match. But I also don’t want to put too much pressure on myself.
“I can sit here and and say, ‘I’m trying to get a run in a grand slam, and I’m pushing myself in these moments’, but at the same time, I’m trying not to put too much emphasis on it, because you can kind of start thinking about just winning the match instead of the actual process of it.
“And I actually felt like I did that a bit today. I was trying to, trying to put the ball in the court and make her play instead of me playing my game.”
