Bolkvadze was born in Batumi and at the age of 13 moved to the United Kingdom to further her tennis development.[2] She stayed initially with her godmother before finding a host family two years later.[2]Maria Sharapova was her favourite player growing up. She is fluent in Georgian, Russian, and English.[3][4]
Bolkvadze began playing tennis at the age of nine and spent much of her teenage years training in London, where she was coached by Otto Buchholdt.[3] As a junior she played in very few ITF events, instead concentrating on domestic competitions organised by the LTA and continental tournaments run by Tennis Europe. She won the 2013 Aegon Junior International in London, defeating Jodie Burrage in the final. At the European Junior Championships held in Moscow later that year she lost to Fanny Stollar in the round of 64.[5]
She reached her only final on the ITF Junior World Tour as a qualifier at the G4 Nottingham event in April 2013, where she was runner-up to Freya Christie.[6]
Ranked 202 in the world, Bolkvadze entered US Open qualifying and was drawn against eighth seed Heather Watson. After beating her in straight sets, she defeated in the second round Han Na-lae in three tight sets to set up a match against Xu Shilin. By another win she qualified for her first major main draw, and became the fourth Georgian to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament.[8] In the first round, she defeated Bernarda Pera in three sets,[9] before losing to third seed Karolína Plíšková.[10] With her wins, she reached a new career-high of 152 in the world.[citation needed]
The following month Bolkvadze repeated her performance by making it through to another WTA 125 quarterfinal, this time at the Barranquilla Open in Columbia, where she defeated Maria Timofeeva[14] and eighth seed Elsa Jacquemot,[15] before losing to fourth seed and eventual champion Nadia Podoroska.[16]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.