Madison Keys may have jumped over 100 places in the rankings in the past 12 months, but she is showing no signs of resting on her laurels.
Keys has plenty of reasons to look back on her 2013 season with a great deal of pride.
Having started the year well outside the Top 100, Keys finished it as the WTA's second-highest ranked teenager following a string of reputation and ranking-enhancing performances.
The American first rose to prominence Down Under, when she came through qualifying in Sydney before pushing Li Na all the way in an absorbing inter-generational quarterfinal. A week later, she made the third round of the Australian Open and from there never looked back, reaching a handful of quarterfinals and rounding off her campaign with a maiden WTA semifinal, in Osaka.
Her athletic game and the easy power, particularly on serve, have earned the 18-year-old plenty of admirers - as well as victories - not to mention some favorable comparisons with one of her childhood idols, Serena Williams.
However, despite these rave reviews and her rapid ascent up the ranks, Keys is grounded enough to know that she is far from the finished article.
"There are certain things I need to work on," Keys said. "I still need to work on my serve - it's not perfect. In fact, there's nothing about my game that is perfect yet.
"I'm just trying to get better at everything and that's my goal at the moment."
And, following a brief holiday, this quest for self-improvement has already resumed for Keys, who is two weeks into her pre-season training.
"I had a short vacation and then off-season training started back in Florida," she said. "I'm just trying to work as hard as I can before going to Australia."
- See more at: http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3560777/title/keys-striving-for-perfection#sthash.WYLZt2KB.dpuf
Keys has plenty of reasons to look back on her 2013 season with a great deal of pride.
Having started the year well outside the Top 100, Keys finished it as the WTA's second-highest ranked teenager following a string of reputation and ranking-enhancing performances.
The American first rose to prominence Down Under, when she came through qualifying in Sydney before pushing Li Na all the way in an absorbing inter-generational quarterfinal. A week later, she made the third round of the Australian Open and from there never looked back, reaching a handful of quarterfinals and rounding off her campaign with a maiden WTA semifinal, in Osaka.
Her athletic game and the easy power, particularly on serve, have earned the 18-year-old plenty of admirers - as well as victories - not to mention some favorable comparisons with one of her childhood idols, Serena Williams.
However, despite these rave reviews and her rapid ascent up the ranks, Keys is grounded enough to know that she is far from the finished article.
"There are certain things I need to work on," Keys said. "I still need to work on my serve - it's not perfect. In fact, there's nothing about my game that is perfect yet.
"I'm just trying to get better at everything and that's my goal at the moment."
And, following a brief holiday, this quest for self-improvement has already resumed for Keys, who is two weeks into her pre-season training.
"I had a short vacation and then off-season training started back in Florida," she said. "I'm just trying to work as hard as I can before going to Australia."
- See more at: http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3560777/title/keys-striving-for-perfection#sthash.WYLZt2KB.dpuf