A lot of great things have happened in Julia Boserup’s career since teaming up with coach Raj Chaudhuri 12 months ago. After her first major break through in 2016, Boserup told the L.A times that she couldn’t really say how or why she broke through, but teaming up with Raj appears to have been the catalyst in her charge up the rankings.
In 2016 Boserup qualified through to the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time, going on to reach the third round at Wimbledon. It’s not surprising that the big hitting Californian lists grass as her favourite surface.
Julia backed up her brilliant form at Wimbledon, that included a win over Belinda Bencic, by reaching the semi final in Quebec City. By the end of the 2016 season her ranking had improved from from 191 to 123.
Coach Chaudhuri has had success working with a number of top WTA tour players including Jill Craybas, Julia Goerges, Lisa Raymond, Sam Stosur and Nicole Arendt. Additionally he served as the assistant women’s coach at the University of Florida.
Raj has bought a sense of confidence into Boserup’s tennis, they have worked on her game little by little. Her break through form has continued into 2017, where she has already qualified through to the second round at the Australian Open. After a semi final showing in Midland earlier this month, this week Julia broke through to the top 100 for the first time in her career.
In tennis, coaches rarely get the credit they deserve and those that know Raj Chaudhuri will tell you he is ‘the salt of the earth’ kind of guy – Humble, kind and incredibly good at his craft. In helping guide the consummate professional, Julia Boserup, to career best results, he has once again showed that he is one of the world’s finest coaches.
Coaches frequently ask competitive junior players about their tennis goals. Answers vary from number one in the world to securing a full ride at an American university.
Interestingly that magical number of reaching the top 100 is a dream that is often floated by aspiring junior players. Being a top junior does not always equal immediate pro success and sometimes a player’s chance to achieve their goals is completely out of their hands. In fact reaching the top 100 in the world is much tougher than most realize. Boserup was a junior champion, winning prestigious titles including the orange bowl. Various injuries (shoulder surgery and stress fractures) made her journey up the professional ranks much more of an arduous one. However her unwavering commitment to her career has most certainly paid off, her ranking currently sits at a career high of 99.
Julia turned pro in 2010 opting to forego a college tennis career. It’s always a difficult decision and one that many top juniors wishing to pursuit a professional career will face. Statistics tell us that for most, the pro route and actually making a living is a slim chance at best. In fact for Julia education wasn’t something she passed up all together. In December 2016 Julia graduated with a degree majoring in psychology after taking online classes while competing on the WTA tour.
So what’s next for Julia after achieving such a remarkable feat? It’s never easy to predict exactly how well a player will do in their career. But one thing is for, she has the game to beat top players on the big stage and propel herself into the world’s top 50 before the season ends. Stay tuned as it may very well be that the best is yet to come for Julia Boserup.