Katie Boulter was lucky to escape a potential default from the umpire at the 2023 US Open after sending a ball into the crowd in frustration during her second-round win.
Boulter's performances have certainly been on an upward trajectory for a number of months now. As is often the case for most British players, they are able to use the grass of Wimbledon as a platform to boost their performances leading into the hard courts later into the year.
Boulter is a great example of that, but after rallying from a set down to beat her Chinese opponent in the second round, things could have really escalated for her on another day.
The Brit inadvertently struck a ball towards the onlooking spectators and subsequently could have been defaulted. In her post-match press conference, Boulter was very sincere about the incident and talked through what was going through her mind, both at the time and during the aftermath.
"Yeah, I mean, I was. The safety of everyone is the most important thing for me. It was completely unintentional. Luckily it wasn't close to anyone, but for a second I was feeling pretty bad. In a way, I felt privileged to still be playing and did not have any big mishaps, so it was fine.
"I mean, of course there is a lot of ifs. I have got to play with the facts that it did not hit someone. It would be my worst nightmare. It was an unfortunate situation, but we move through. I'll just continue but I will be very careful."
Perhaps the biggest example of something similar was when Novak Djokovic was defaulted at the 2020 US Open for hitting the ball in frustration in the direction of one of the line umpires. Boulter is fortunate things did not escalate quite to that extreme, but she will be hoping to live a little less dangerously when she next makes it onto the court for one of the biggest matches of her career.
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