Katie Boulter thanks her lucky stars despite first round loss at Eastbourne
Katie Boulter thanked her lucky stars to be playing tennis - despite suffering a setback to her Wimbledon preparations.
The British number one lost in the first round at Eastbourne on the day an Equity in Cricket report revealed women are treated as "subordinate" to men at all levels of that sport.
Her 6-4 7-5 loss to world No.30 Petra Martic coincided with the Women's Tennis Association committing to equal prize money in their combined events by 2027.
Boulter, who replaced Emma Raducanu as Britain’s top female player earlier this month, said: “I feel very grateful to be in the position that I am.
“If we're projected to be on equal prize money I think that would be a huge achievement. Hopefully we can keep bringing this sport forward.”
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WTA founder Billie Jean King spoke of her pride that the governing body “continues to be a global leader focused on providing opportunities”.
Boulter during her 6-4 7-5 loss to world No.30 Petra Martic (PA)She added: “I hope that women in other sports and walks of life are inspired by its example."
Boulter, 26, has had back-to-back first round defeats since winning her first WTA title in Nottingham 10 days ago.
But she refused to be downbeat after her straight sets loss to Martic in the Rothesay International on the wind-blown south coast.
Boulter: "I feel like I'm playing some really good tennis" (AFP via Getty Images)“It wasn't bad tennis,” she said. “I'm playing someone ranked 30 in the world. I'm having a go at her.
“Ultimately her experience showed and she played better in the biggest moments but I feel like I'm playing some really good tennis.
“I don't think I have lost any confidence these past couple of weeks just because I lost to higher-ranked players. I really don't feel that at all.”
Heather Watson was also unable to join Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage in the last 16 after going down to Camila Giorgi 3-6 4-6.
Liam Broady breezed into the last-16 of the men’s singles - then faced up to a battle with Andy Murray to hang onto his doubles partner.
Broady, the world number 147, was too good for fellow Brit Jan Choinski 6-3, 6-4 and today partners Jonny O’Mara in the quarter-finals of the doubles - the same O’Mara recently added to Murray’s coaching team.
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Broady said: “From what I'm hearing, Jonny's doing a good job with Andy. I'm going to try to persuade him to play some more doubles with me but we'll have to see. Coach Andy Murray or play doubles with Liam Broady? It's a tough decision, isn't it?!”
A day after Murray revealed he has a plan for how he would like to retire from tennis, former British star Laura Robson urged him not to rush a decision.
“I hate this feeling of trying to retire people before they're ready,” she told Eurosport . “We've seen it so often with Serena [Williams] and Venus [Williams] and other champions. Just let them play for as long as they want to.
“He's clearly doing well enough to just be outside of the top 32 seeds without a huge amount of tennis under his belt. I feel like he's right up there still, so there’s no reason to stop anytime soon.”
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