Katie Boulter Suffers Early Exit in Miami Amid Ongoing Form Struggles for Tennis Power CoupleKatie Boulter’s early exit from the 2025 Miami Open has continued a worrying trend of underperformance when she and fiancé Alex de Minaur compete at the same tournaments. The British No.1 fell in straight sets to American Peyton Stearns in the first round, marking another setback in a string of disappointing results for the couple.
The loss follows Boulter’s second-round exit at Indian Wells, where she fell to World No.7 Elena Rybakina. De Minaur also struggled at the same event, suffering a fourth-round defeat to Francisco Cerundolo — a player he had previously beaten at the Australian Open. Their twin exits echoed similar patterns seen throughout their careers: both have rarely found success at the same tournament when playing simultaneously.
The Miami and Indian Wells events are among the few occasions where ATP and WTA players compete at the same venue during the same week, offering rare opportunities for the pair to support each other on site. However, results haven’t gone in their favor during these times.
De Minaur, who reached a career-high ranking of World No.6 earlier this year, has seen a dip in form recently. After a strong showing at the Australian Open and a runner-up finish in Rotterdam, the Aussie made a surprise decision to skip defending his Mexican Open title — which he had won in both 2023 and 2024 — choosing instead to compete in Doha and Dubai. He exited both tournaments early, leading to a slide down the rankings to No.11.
Speculation has emerged about whether playing at the same events affects their performance. While tennis couples often benefit from mutual support, some observers have pointed out a pattern of Boulter and de Minaur failing to advance deep into tournaments together.
Despite these concerns, former Australian star Jelena Dokic recently defended the idea that high-profile tennis relationships could be mutually beneficial.
“They support each other in different ways… I don’t think their relationship is why either of them is struggling,” Dokic said during the Australian Open broadcast. She also drew comparisons to other tennis couples like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa.
With the clay season approaching, Boulter and de Minaur will have more chances to turn things around — including upcoming majors like Roland Garros and Wimbledon. For now, though, their joint presence on the tour continues to draw interest and scrutiny.
