Tennis news: Madison Keys makes interesting change, and Jessica Pegula marks a milestone

29-year-old Madison Keys started 2024 not where she wanted to be. Instead of being in Melbourne at the Australian Open, she was at home dealing with a shoulder injury. Keys has been a mainstay on the WTA Tour since 2009. Her absence among the Americans competing for the first Grand Slam of the year of which she is a two-time semifinalist (2015 and 2022) was noticeable.

While recovering from the injury and preparing to return to the tour, Keys made a racquet change. This change, at this stage in her career, is viewed by tennis pundits as gutsy. Keys hits with a lot of power, but the new racquet introduces more spin and the swing weight went down lessening the impact on her shoulder.

Keys misses the "crispy" sound of the ball making contact with her old racquet and is still adjusting to not hearing the sound but admits the equipment change was positive. She admits that she recently picked up her old racquet and cannot believe she used it for so long. After 20 minutes of hitting with it, she joked that her arm felt like it was going to "fall off." After getting past Coco Gauff in the Round of 16, Keys faces another tough test of her fitness and the new racquet defending all of the drop shots and other tricky shots Ons Jabeur will utilize in their quarterfinal match.

Another American veteran, Jessica Pegula, marks a career milestone

Like Keys, Jessica Pegula has dealt with injuries in 2024 and has been missed on the court. Because of her supreme consistency of advancing to the latter rounds of practically every tournament she has entered in the past few years, Pegula is marking a significant career milestone.

Pegula, 30, is celebrating her 100th consecutive week in the WTA Top 10 rankings. She took to social media to explain what this honor means to her but also reflected that she misses being on the court. Her highest ranking was World No. 3 in the fall of 2022, and the quarterfinalist of every Grand Slam since 2021 needs to get healthy so she can compete at a high level in next month's French Open.

Pegula has been a pro as long as Keys (2009), but early injuries delayed her career success. The last few years under former coach David Witt is when she reached her career highs.

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