Katie Boulter was looking to reach the third round of the Australian Open for the first time in her career.
Having proven herself to be one of the top players on the WTA Tour in 2024, the British number one was looking for a strong showing at this year’s first Major tournament.
She got off to the perfect start, as Boulter beat Rebecca Marino in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
With the win, Boulter set up a third-round tie against Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, who had dropped just two games in her opening match.
It was a close affair on Court three, as Kudermetova grabbed the first set in a tiebreaker before the Brit levelled things up at one a piece.
Kudermetova then took the third set 6-2, sending Boulter out of the Australian Open.
During the match, Kudermetova took a medical timeout that lasted over ten minutes, something that Boulter has now commented on.
Katie Boulter doesn’t know the ‘solution’ after recent medical timeout drama
Speaking after her Australian Open exit, the world number 25 gave her thoughts on Kudermetova’s timeout.
“Medical timeouts are a very interesting one,” she said.
“I don’t think it at all made a difference today.
“I mean, honestly, I broke her, so whether it made a difference or not, I don’t know, maybe she did it to herself.
“It is an interesting topic of conversation, medical timeouts in general.”
Boulter was then asked whether she thinks medical timeouts should be made less readily available to players on the WTA Tour.
“Ah, look, I mean, I’m not entirely sure what the solution is with it,” she said.
“I’m not sure.
“Look, I have been that player who has been injured and needed medical timeout, so I will be the first person to say I appreciate having them there and what the WTA physios do really does make a difference.”
What has been said about Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu’s recent medical timeouts?
Boulter was entangled in some medical timeout drama earlier this month at the United Cup as Great Britain took on Poland.
Iga Swiatek was heavily criticized after taking a medical timeout just after Boulter had broken her, eventually going on to win the match in three sets.
Several fans suggested that the Pole had used the timeout to disrupt Boulter’s rhythm, as she helped book Poland their spot in the semi finals.
“[Iga] Swiatek with more gamesmanship that makes her so unpopular,” said one fan.
“Broken, all out of ideas, has an MTO [Medical timeout], comes back and cruises through the rest of the match.
“Straight from the [Novak] Djokovic manual.
“MTO’s should carry a game penalty.”
Swiatek denied the claim, saying that any disruption to Boulter’s rhythm was unintentional.
“I don’t do these kinds of things to do it tactically, it was just that I needed it,” she said.
The world number two isn’t the only WTA player to have been called out for their use of medical timeouts this year, however.
Emma Raducanu was questioned by John McEnroe after she called the trainer on to the court during her second-round win over Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open.
“She called the trainer a couple of times on the court during the second set so it looked kind of iffy what was going to happen,” said McEnroe.
“I don’t know if it threw [Amanda] Anisimova off, but it worked and it looked like she was moving better.”
Raducanu advanced to the third round of the Australian Open where she will face off against Swiatek.
It’s tough to say what the answer is to the recent timeout ‘drama’, but it seems likely that the debate will roll on throughout the rest of the tournament.
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