Katie Boulter suffered a disappointing second-round defeat at the Queen’s Club on Thursday and, to add insult to injury, will lose her British No. 1 ranking to Emma Raducanu. The 28-year-old enjoyed a two-year reign as the top British woman but it will finally come to an end when the standings update on Monday.

Boulter and Raducanu joined forces in the doubles at Queen’s this week, so there are no hard feelings. And the current world No. 34 has already poured cold water on fans’ hopes that they could team up again at Wimbledon later this month.

In the first edition of the new WTA 500 event at Queen’s, Boulter won one singles match before bowing out to No. 5 seed Diana Shnaider 2-6 6-3 6-2 on Thursday.

It was a disappointing defeat for the 28-year-old, who felt she had chances to win the match, and it means Raducanu will officially become the British No. 1 next week, for the first time since she shut down her 2023 season to have three surgeries.

Boulter’s ranking suffered a blow this week because the 250 points she received for winning Nottingham last year were removed this week after the grass season schedule changed.

After falling behind Raducanu, she said: “Tennis is a funny one. You know, some people lose 250 points one week, some people lose zero, some people lose 100. It's something that happens every single week.

“I'm very well aware that I lost 250 this week, because Nottingham was next week and the scheduling's been different. Of course I personally want to be getting my ranking moving in the right direction. I'm very happy for her to be British No. 1.

“But at the same time, it's going to be fun for me to chase her now, and I think she's been doing that for a while. Now it's kind of my turn.”

Boulter also suffered defeat in doubles on Wednesday alongside Raducanu, going out to No. 1 seeds Erin Routliffe and Lyudmyla Kichenok. While they enjoyed the experience, they have no plans to revive their partnership at the All England Club.

The three-time title winner added: “I had a great time playing with Emma this week. I'm sure we will do it at some point. I'm not sure when, but at some point I'm sure we will.

“I don't know about that one. Maybe we'll find out a little later if we do that or not. It's not in the plans at the moment.”

Boulter will return to Nottingham next week, where she lifted the trophy in 2023 and 2024. With her ranking points already coming off, she feels she can swing freely again despite being the reigning champion there.

“Sitting here right now, I personally don't feel any pressure. I'm actually quite excited to go out and swing free now my points are off this week, so I've got nothing to lose from now,” she explained.

“It's not like I had a massive run in Wimbledon or in Eastbourne last year, so yeah, I can take a breath. I can enjoy it. I can enjoy playing now. And, you know, I'm on my favourite surface, I've got a great chance, I'm at my home tournament. I can swing free and, yeah, hopefully make a few more points.

“But honestly, like, I find that's not necessarily my focus. It really isn't. My focus is to keep improving my game, and to play matches like this today and start showing that I can beat people around that ranking, as well.”