Katie wins to love!
Boulter celebrates San Diego win with boyfriend De Minaur, who lifted title in Mexico hours earlier
KATIE Boulter’s title victory in San Diego completed a fantastic — and, in her boyfriend’s case, frantic — week for tennis’s most in-form couple.
After coming from behind to beat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 and win the second trophy of her career on Sunday, the British No1 acknowledged the frazzled but happy Alex de Minaur.
‘I want to say a small special thank you to my boyfriend,’ Boulter said. ‘He finished last night at midnight and I really want to embarrass him. He got a 4.15am taxi this morning and 6am flight to be here today, so I do appreciate it.’
The Australian had won a trophy of his own, defending his title in Acapulco on Saturday, but skipped the after-party to dash 2,000 miles up the Pacific Coast to be courtside for Boulter’s final.
‘He had an incredible week himself,’ added the 27-year-old from Leicester. ‘What he did was insane — back-to-back titles in a 500, that’s what I aspire to.’
It would be easy to look at the couple’s Instagram feeds, see the holiday snaps and decide the relationship is a distraction to on-court graft.
Nothing could be further from the truth, as this alliance has pushed both to career- high rankings. After three years as a couple, Boulter is No 27 in the world and De Minaur is 10th.
The 25-year-old Aussie is not blessed with the easy power of his girlfriend, but is probably the fastest player in the world and scraps tooth and claw for every point. And his work-ethic and determination seem to have rubbed off on Boulter.
Speaking at Wimbledon last year, Boulter’s Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keothavong — who was courtside in San Diego — reflected the feeling among those close to Boulter that the relationshipp can only mean good things for her tennis.
‘Alex is so down to earth and so lovely,’ she said. ‘In a cute kind of way they are very supportive of each other. You can tell how much they care for each other.
‘If you’re settled in your personal life, then your work life becomes a lot easier.’
Boulter has always had the look of a player who could gravitate towards the top of the game, although a bad back injury in 2019 significantly slowed her progress.
Her height and natural timing give her easy power on the serve and forehand. That onetwo punch allowed her to consistently operate from near the baseline and dictate points against Kostyuk.
‘ I don’t know what just happened,’ Boulter said after sealing a second title to go with last year’s Nottingham Open.
‘This week has been very, very special for so many different reasons. This one is pretty amazing. I’ve worked very hard for it, I played some incredible tennis all week.
‘Today was a complete battle, with myself as well, because I was a little bit nervous. But I managed to get over the line and I’m very proud of that.’