Former British number one Katie Boulter has missed out on a place in the main draw at the Australian Open.
There are 104 players who have received direct entry into the Melbourne draw, including those with protected rankings, with Boulter currently ranked 106th.
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The 29-year-old will now have to go through qualifying at Melbourne Park in January for the first Grand Slam of 2026.
Boulter had the opportunity to earn additional ranking points at the WTA 125 challenger event in France last week, but opted not to play after injuring his hip in Hong Kong in October.
She told BBC Sport in November that she had to “choose between my body and my ranking” when wondering whether to play to improve its ranking.
“If there are tournaments there, it gives you an opportunity because you want to be in the main draw for Australia,” she said at the time.
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“I think I know my own choice, but it’s difficult because it means everyone is going to play and surpass me.”
Boulter has won just 14 Tour main draw matches this year and recently parted ways with coach Biljana Veselinovic after a three-year partnership in which she won three WTA titles.
Emma Raducanu, Sonay Kartal and Francesca Jones all received direct entry into the main draw – along with Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie and Jacob Fearnley.
For the first time, the entry list for the men’s Australian Open was drawn up in November – the official date of the year-end ATP rankings – with the previous draw intended to discourage players from chasing ranking points in the off-season, as Boulter might have done.
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The women’s entry list was based on the world rankings as of December 8.
“There has to be a place where you set a limit and you give people an opportunity to recover and have a good pre-season,” Boulter said.
“I feel like this year we’ve seen so much burnout and so many people not playing at the end of the year because of mental health issues as well as body issues, and I think that contributes to it.”
Boulter will now need to win through qualifying if she is to make the main draw at Melbourne Park for the sixth time in her career.
