European wildcard In honor of her grandmother, who passed away just two days prior, Katie Boulter dedicated her astonishing Wimbledon victory over last year’s finalist Karolina Pliskova.
The rising star defeated the Czech in three thrilling sets on Centre Court this afternoon to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time. The budding star has been in Vogue and frequently posts glamorous photos on her Instagram.
She confessed her devastating loss in a post-match interview while fighting back tears as her family, who were visibly upset, looked on.
Her grandfather, who created the anti-theft tags placed on clothing in stores, was one of the relatives watching from the stands.
Despite a flawless start in which she broke serve to win the opening game, Boulter battled back after falling down to lose the first set 6-3.
Boulter, though, mounted a surprising comeback to take the second set 7-6 and set up a thrilling climax at SW19, helped by many well-timed challenges to the umpire.
The top-ranked Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur, who is scheduled to play on Court 1 this afternoon, is the girlfriend of the 25-year-old. She then found another gear to win the crucial third set 6-4.
Following the double disappointment of defeats for Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu yesterday, the home audience erupted in support of the emerging star, who produced a surprise victory against the world number six.
Following her victory over Clara Burel of France in straight sets, Boulter, who stands 5 feet 11 inches tall, spoke on the court to pay tribute to her grandmother, who passed away on Tuesday.
She told the crowd, “I’ve got absolutely no words right now,” in an interview with the BBC. Thank you very much for helping me get through the tremendous crowd.
I’m going to start crying. I really want to dedicate that to my grandmother today because she passed away two days ago.
To be really honest, it’s a dream come true for me. I expect to have many more matches to play, and if you guys support me in those, hopefully I can do well. I appreciate your support.
The British number three entered the match with a lot of confidence following a strong run of grass-court tournaments, which included a win over Pliskova at Eastbourne last week.
In addition, Boulter delighted the local fans by winning 3-6 7-6 (4) 6-4 after falling to Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu on Wednesday.
Even though the weather was dry and the outside courts were still being used for play, the roof was unexpectedly closed for the match.
Boulter played on Centre for the second consecutive year after narrowly losing to semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka at the same point the year before.
Pliskova, who made it to her second grand slam final, stopped Sabalenka’s run, but this has not been a good season for the Czech, who missed the Australian Open due to a broken arm and has not been able to gather much momentum.
Prior to entering at the All England Club, she had only won consecutive matches twice in the entire year.
The sixth seed suddenly found herself a break down as Boulter swiftly settled in and raced into a 2-0 lead.
Pliskova was able to establish her rhythm on her serve and groundstrokes because to the indoor conditions, winning five straight games.
The British player received breaks for 3-1 and 4-2 thanks to double faults early in the second, which was just what Boulter needed to get back into the match.
She suffered straight back breaks both times, but she fought back to force a tie-break and started out strong by taking the first four points.
Pliskova answered back with three straight, but Boulter, who had obviously started to push a little harder with her groundstrokes, maintained her lead and won the second set point.
The 25-year-skill old’s has never been in question, but maintaining continuous fitness has so far proven to be impossible.
As a result, she has spent the majority of her career outside the top 100.
She had brilliantly adapted to this contest and held Pliskova at a distance for the entirety of the last set before making the key adjustment to take the lead 5-4.
Boulter was fearless on her final serve, launching a final volley into the open court while exultantly raising her fists.
Boulter, a Leicester native who is tall and with effortless power, has climbed as high as 82 in the world and appears to have the most promise among the younger British athletes.
The athlete, who volunteered for Age UK during a portion of lockdown, frequently posts glitzy photos of her travels for training and competition on Instagram.
Additionally, she declared her relationship with top-ranked Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur, who is scheduled to play on Court 1 this afternoon.
Prior to suffering an injury in April 2019 while competing for Great Britain in the Federation Cup, Boulter rose to the 82nd position in the world rankings.
She experienced a spinal stress fracture after the team’s triumph over Kazakhstan, sidelining her for the remainder of the year.
Her battle with chronic exhaustion, for which she was given a diagnosis as a teenager, complicated her recovery.
But she claimed in an interview from last year that she had “officially conquered it” and that she was “as physically strong as I have ever been.”
Boulter utilized the time spent working with Age UK, a charity for the elderly, during the UK lockdown of 2020.
“There was one old lady I contacted every week so I could check that she’s OK and see if she needs anything done,” Boulter recalled.