Katie Boulter faces major Australian Open risk as ranking plummets but Emma Raducanu gets reprieve

Former British No.1 Katie Boulter has been the biggest loser from the latest women’s ranking update, falling a massive 21 places.

Her drop was the biggest of anyone on the WTA tour, and puts her 100th overall.

Just a year ago the 29-year-old reached a career high of 23rd in the women’s rankings, while she was also clear as the No.1 Brit.

However, 2025 hasn’t been kind to Boulter, who only made the second round of three grand slams and just the first of the US Open.

Her biggest highlight was arguably guiding Team GB to the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals before defeat to the US.

She also won the Trophee Clarins event, her first on clay, but only 125 WTA points were up for grabs in Paris.

Such results leave Boulter on the brink of dropping out of the top 100, which would mean she wouldn’t gain automatic entry for the Australian Open, the first major of 2026.

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She will be forced to go through qualifying if that happens.

Boulter sinks but Raducanu clings on
Conversely, there was some good news for one of British tennis’ other most recognisable faces.

Current British No.1 Emma Raducanu holds onto 29th overall despite missing the end of the season through injury.

The 2021 US Open winner pulled out of her final two tournaments of the year having suffered with back pain and blood pressure troubles while playing in Asia.

Despite that, the 22-year-old has had her best season since her famous 2021 Grand Slam win, rising right back up the rankings after dropping back down to 285th during an injury-hit 2023.

Raducanu most notably racked up multiple wins against top ten players for the first time, and went toe-to-toe with world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka twice, including at Wimbledon.

But her most impressive tournament performance came at the WTA 1000 Miami Open when she beat top ten players Emma Navarro and Amanda Anisimova before narrowly losing to world No.4 Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals.

Raducanu is in no danger of failing to qualify should she drop lower before the Australian Open in January, but she will hope to not fall more than three spots.

That’s because the top 32 on the women’s tour are seeded for Grand Slams, meaning they avoid facing other big names in the early rounds.