Katie Boulter said staying British No.1 is “not my goal” before she bids to win her first ever singles match at the French Open. And before only her second appearance in the main draw here, the 28-year-old warned: “I'm not expecting massive things.”

The Leicester City fan prepared for the claycourt Grand Slam by winning the WTA 125 event in Paris last week. She is now world No.38 with Emma Raducanu (43) and Sonay Kartal (53) close behind.

But Boulter, who has struggled with a foot injury this year, said: “I've been in this space for a long time now. I've not been here for one week. I don't even know now. Almost three years, probably something like this.

“I feel like I have ticked that goal of being British No. 1. If my ranking is going in the right direction, I'll remain there. If not, great. The other girls are doing really well. I want to see Emma and Sonay and anyone else pushing me in the rankings. I want that because ultimately it means I've got to get my ranking up to hold that spot.

“My primary focus is going to be on myself. I take being British No. 1 as a privilege, but at the same time it's not my goal. It's not something that I want to put down on a piece of paper and say that I've been that for 10 years.

“It's a privilege to be that, but I want to get my ranking back up to where it was. I think at the end of last year, obviously my career high of the lower 20s, that's where I want to be, then pushing on from there.

“I do want to stress that being British No. 1 is a privilege and I always take that role with, yeah, a lot of happiness. But at the same time it's not my goal.”

Boulter played and won the Clarins Trophy last week to prepare for Roland Garros.

“I actually wanted to come back here to play with the balls and to play on the same courts as Paris,” she said.

“That was my thought process with it. Obviously I find that Madrid and Rome are very different tournaments, and you have to adapt very quickly. Just like a hard court, there are some weeks that suit you and some that don't. I really don't love both those tournaments.

"When I stepped on the courts here last year for the 125, I felt automatically already better. I wanted to give that a go again and see if that gave me a bit more confidence. Obviously sometimes playing the lower-ranked events are really good, then you can kind of gain a bit of confidence with them. I personally am a bit of a confidence player, so I feel like I need that sometimes. Yeah, I was very happy to step down and play that tournament. I had no expectations going into it. Obviously I think it helped and it worked.

“I think I'm coming in with a slightly different perspective. I feel like I gained a lot of momentum last weekYeah, of course, another opportunity at a slam. I've never won a match here. I think it's a great opportunity to get that going. Yeah, we'll see what happens.”

All six British players lost in the first round here last year. But Boulter said: “I think people can be quite critical of the Brits around the clay court season right before the grass season.

“It's not our preferred surface. We don't grow up on it. We don't get the chance to play on it that much as a kid. So naturally our game styles don't suit it as much.

“Every year for me is a new year. I find that a lot of people are coming in this year with quite a few wins under their belt, which is great. Yeah, it's another opportunity to show that we can play on the clay and we can adapt and we can get better.

“But again, I'm very realistic with it. I'm not expecting massive things. I think that's also something that will help me, as well.”