Madison Keys

Born in 1995, Madison Keys has become a major part of the eternal success story that has become the US Women’s Tennis program. With a powerful right handed play style with a two-handed backhand that does a lot of damage, Keys has proven herself to be an earnest member of the WTA roster. Already, she’s made a huge impression since turning pro in 2009, and 2017 looks like it might just be the next step up for her.

Brought into the sports by her tennis-mad parents, Keys soon showed an aptitude and a natural attention to detail on the court that is rare to see. she quickly became renowned for a powerful and accurate serve, with an ability to play on the hardest of surfaces without suffering performance lags.

With two impressive WTA Premier tournaments behind her, too, she became the first US Woman to debut in the Top 10 of the WTA rankings since Serena Williams done so in the late 1990s. Currently, the 22-year-old is seen as one of the rising stars of the women’s game, seen as many as the most likely to take over from the Williams sisters when they move on, at least from a US perspective.

Having won a WTA Tour match at the age of 14, the fact that Keys is seen by many as a bit of a prodigy should come as a shock to nobody! Her tennis career goes back to early life, when was part of the Chris Evert Academy in Boca Raton, FL, where she honed her skills and set herself on the path to becoming one of the most exciting tennis players of her generation.

She reached the 2013 Apia International Sydney quarter-finals, where she defeated Zheng Jie and Lucie Safarova, having lost to both players in the past at Grand Slam events. Sher lost to Li Na in the next round, before going on to play in the 2013 Australian Open before losing to Angelique Kerber.

However, Indian Wells and Miami second-round finishes followed by a quarter-final loss to Venus Williams at Charlestone showed that Keys was very much on the ascendancy as a player. Her first tittle came in 201, when she won at Eastbourne to beat both Kerber and Jelena Jankovic to walk away with her first title. This form took her to the third round of Wimbledon, when she lost to Yaroslava Shvedova due to a leg injury.

Her first seeded opportunity at a Grand Slam came in the US Open, when she went out at the second round to Aleksandra Krunic. Since then, she’s gone on to reach the Australia Open semi-finals, losing to Serena Williams, and also won the Aegon Classic in Birmingham. She moved into the Top 10 for the first time in her career, and also reached the semi-finals of Linz and Beijing, reaching a spot as part of the WTA Finals.

She went out in the round robin, but at just 22 she’s got so many years at the top of the sport left within her. For fans of the sport looking for a new potential hero to cheer on, few come as promising as Keys does at this moment in time.