British Katie Boulter states she believes she has to "pick between my physical condition and my world standing" as the race continues for a spot in next January's Australian Open main event.
While the typical WTA Tour competitive period is completed, there are still standing points to be won in Chile, Argentina, multiple sites and international tournaments.
The women's entry list for the first Grand Slam of the forthcoming season will be calculated from the world rankings of 8 December, which could cause a challenging situation for competitors approaching the qualification line.
Physical Setbacks
Previous British number one Boulter suffered an groin injury in her concluding competition of the year in international locations last month, and is now weighing up whether to participate in the WTA 125 Challenger event in European venues, the European nation, in the opening days of December.
The athlete's current physical issue, and the situation she would need to achieve at least multiple victories in the French tournament to improve her standing, means she may well ultimately not participating.
Varying Approaches
In opposition, male athletes are not experiencing the same dilemma, as for the first time the male Australian Open entry list will be created from present week's rankings, which is the ATP's official season-concluding position determination.
The modification is designed to deterring athletes from chasing ranking points during what is basically the off-season.
Professional Adjustments
This period has been a difficult one for Boulter.
She achieved merely 14 elite major tournament games and recently split with trainer Biljana Veselinovic after a extended partnership in which she secured three WTA titles.
"Biljana is an outstanding coach, and an exceptionally good human as well, which creates situations particularly challenging," Boulter said.
The search for a replacement instructor is currently ongoing, looking for someone who has elite experience as Boulter continues to think she can be a top-20 competitor.
Future Goals
"Going forward with a new coach, an important factor I'm very clear on is that they are going to be a professional who has considerable knowledge in how to make it to the very top level of this game," she stated.
"I've been positioned as high as twenty-three and I am confident I can return to that level. I am not convinced my performance has disappeared, I think the reliability must improve.
"My aim is not merely to be placed 50, forty, thirty, twenty - we've achieved that. The objective is to be within 20."
