Madison Keys’ highly-touted partnership with Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond won’t continue into the 2016 season. Keys’ agent confirmed the split to WTA Insider on Wednesday.

Keys is now working with former ATP player Jesse Levine in Boca Raton, Florida. She will continue to work with her trainer Scott Byrnes and will add a traveling physio for the new season.

Keys and Davenport began working together during the 2014 off-season and what was meant to be an off-season training session turned into a more robust partnership in 2015. With Davenport at the helm, Keys made her first Slam semifinal at the Australian Open and made the second week at three of the four majors, including the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. She also made her second Premier final at the Family Circle Cup, finishing the season at No.18.

Due to her family and commentating responsibilities, Davenport was unable to travel full-time with Keys. Those responsibilities were spread out between Davenport, her husband Jon Leach, and Raymond. Keys’ agent told WTA Insider that discussions with Davenport about her role in 2016 began after the US Open but no final decisions were made until after the season ended.

Keys and Levine know each other well. Levine hit with Keys before her run to the final in Charleston and the hope is that his work ethic and positive energy, combined with his quality as a consistent hitting partner, will help the 20-year-old American continue to develop her game.

Big wins and titles are great, but for Roland Garros semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky, it’s all about the improvements a player makes along the way.

“I think you can improve all the time, even if it’s on small things – which is quite nice because then you always have a goal,” the 2015 WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year said during the WTA Insider Podcast. “Our real goal is to improve a little bit, all the time, on everything. So I can say, ‘OK, I run better than last year. This was a great improvement. I can defend better, and maybe I will still try even more for next year.’

“Overall, I think you can improve in every department, even for myself because I’m a pretty complete player.”

Bacsinszky’s complete game clicked for much of the 2015 season, carrying momentum from the year before when she upset Maria Sharapova en route to the quarterfinals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, and even farther back than that, when she decided to give tennis a second try after a foot injury led her to step away from the game.

“The comeback is over for me. It was like a second career. Now I’m starting my third career, because I would obviously like to last longer, to be healthy, and still enjoy playing.”

If her third career is anything like her second, there will certainly be plenty to enjoy. The Swiss began 2015 in bright fashion, beating Petra Kvitova to make the finals in Shenzhen, and later going on a 15-match win streak that took her to two titles and into the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open against World No.1 Serena Williams.

“I played 16 matches in a row with 15 wins. I was quite happy, and that was also with flights in between, some jet lag. My body was really well prepared, and I have to thank my physical coach for that, my coach too – my team. This is also about scheduling, to be healthy, to be fit to play and to last long. Everyone is different. You just have to try to find the best balance for yourself.”

Bacsinszky played balanced tennis through a heroic Fed Cup weekend – almost single-handedly leading the Swiss Team into World Group I over an Agnieszka Radwanska-led Poland – and into the clay court season, besting Kvitova for a second time in Paris to meet Williams again in the final four of the French Open. Leading by a set and a break, the rising Swiss played flawless tennis before the American was ultimately able to raise her game. Dealing with the loss, Bacsinszky explained, was compounded by the exponential increase in attention.

“I lost on a Thursday, got back on Friday, and on Saturday morning I went into the city to buy some things for a friend’s birthday. I was just walking with shades – it was sunny! I was not hiding, or something – but maybe 40 people recognized me in Lausanne.

“It was a tough loss and everyone was there to remind me. They’re super proud, but they keep on talking about it and you have to have the same face for the first person and the last, even if there were like 40 in between. This is sometimes tough because we’re normal human beings and we cannot be perfect every day, and sometimes we have tougher days and just don’t want to talk. But because we’re public we have to be nice and have to talk.”

The glare of the spotlight was hardly hers alone; Bacsinszky was one of many successful Swiss Misses (and Misters in Stan Wawrinka and Roger Federer) to grab headlines, but even that presented its fair share of challenges.

“The Swiss media started to talk about how there’d be two men in the Top 5 and maybe two women and comparing Belinda [Bencic] and me, which makes no sense because yes, we’re Swiss, but she’s 18 and I have another story. I’m not comparing myself to anyone. I have my own career, and that’s it.

“I’m the first Timea Bacsinszky and I’m going to be the last one too. Unless…” she trailed off with a chuckle. “But then they’d have to have the same last name spelling as mine, so good luck with that!”

Suddenly in a position to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, Bacsinszky admitted she lost focus of what brought her there in the first place.

“What am I chasing? I’m going to burn myself playing zillions of tournaments until the end of the year just to maybe qualify for something? I talked a lot with my team and they helped me to realize that I didn’t have to play to be in the top at the end of this year. I almost wanted to rush everything, which is something I wasn’t doing for two years. I had been the one who was always saying, ‘slow down, it’s all right.’

“I realized I’m not chasing anything. I just want to be happy with my game to feel that I’m improving every day when I step on the court, in practice or at a match. If you try to run after something all the time, for me it makes no sense. I’m just trying to improve, and if I get the chance to go there, then good for me.

“If not, it’s all right. I will go to bed every evening, and I will wake up in the morning and have a nice breakfast. Life goes on.”

Taking her time after the US Open, Bacsinszky was refreshed and ready for the end of the Asian Swing, reaching the biggest final of her career at the China Open, losing a tight two-setter to Garbiñe Muguruza, and narrowly missing out on a Singapore berth.

But Singapore was never the goal, neither were her Grand Slam successes. Timea Bacsinszky truly came back for the love of the game.

“I’m just already focusing on the next year,” she said, adding an extra ‘s’ to emphasize how she was thinking beyond 2016. “I hope my career is going to be long and I have to preserve my body as well.”

With two careers under her belt, Bacsinszky’s “big eyes” have seen what it takes to succeed on the big stages; all that’s left to do is improve.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Daria Gavrilova returned to Australia 12 months ago to finish what she started. Ranked outside the Top 200 and hoping to earn an Australian Open wildcard two years after her Grand Slam debut, the former junior No.1 and Youth Olympic Gold Medalist felt at home at the Happy Slam long before playing under its flag.

“I have loved Australia for a long time,” the 2015 WTA Newcomer of the Year said during the Miami Open. “I have been coming there since maybe 2010 and always loved it there.”

Moscow born and Melbourne based, Gavrilova first tasted WTA success in 2013, reaching the second round of the Australian Open as a qualifier – besting future Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard for a spot in the main draw. Looking back, the Aussie admitted she had a lot to learn.

“It’s a completely different level,” she told WTA Insider. “The standard is a lot higher [than in juniors], so I had to improve in all aspects of my game.”

That opportunity for improvement came under inauspicious circumstances. A torn ACL took her off the circuit for just over eight months; working with former WTA No.35 Nicole Pratt, the time was well spent.

“It was a good pause for me as it gave me a chance to work on all areas of my game – especially physically.”

“We had a broken body that we had to re-build,” Pratt explained in the spring. “I think it was a blessing in disguise. She spent nine months off of the tour and got better physically and mentally.”

Once able to stay back and gut out wins over junior competition, Gavrilova started stepping into the court, taking advantage of an instinctive all-court game. Closing out the 2014 season with a WTA main draw finish at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, she won the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff without dropping a set and rode an eight-match win streak into the round of 16 at the Brisbane International.

“I didn’t really need a pre-season because I was out for so long. So of course, getting some matches under my belt was a good thing for me because I haven’t played many tournaments that year at all.”

A fiery competitor, she immediately began challenging the game’s best, pushing Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep to three sets at the Apia Sydney International and BNP Paribas Open, respectively – battling the former until 3:10am.

“I got close to beating both girls and it gave me confidence to feel like I belong at this level and that I can beat anybody.”

The third time proved lucky for Gavrilova, who played efficient tennis to dispatch then-World No.2 Maria Sharapova in straight sets for the biggest win of her career. A spotlight was suddenly back on the Aussie, and it was abundantly clear that she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The experience of playing those big tournaments in a main draw is the first step in moving forward in my career. I have learned to handle the big occasions better – like playing on big stadium courts – and I absolutely loved it.”

She made a seamless transition to the clay courts in Rome, taking out a slew of big names – including two eventual French Open semifinalists in former No.1 Ana Ivanovic and 2015 WTA Most Improved Timea Bacsinszky – en route to the semifinals.

“My favorite match this year was against Ana on Pietrangeli; the court was so beautiful and the crowd was amazing!”

With a quarterfinal appearance in Eastbourne, the 21-year-old proved dangerous on all surfaces this season, later upsetting French Open finalist Lucie Safarova at the Rogers Cup and finding herself one game from taking out Petra Kvitova at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.

Matching her coach’s career-high ranking in early October, Gavrilova proved prescient when it came to where she’d land by year’s end, but the newly minted Aussie has much bigger goals for the stacked season to come.

“When we had a Fed Cup dinner in Miami with the Aussie team, I made a joke that my end ranking is going to be No.37, and I made No.36 so yes, I have achieved my goals.

“This is the first time I have really done a dedicated pre-season, knowing that I will be in main draw of all the upcoming events I want to play. In 2016, I want to get my Grand Slam results better than 2015; I’m also really excited to represent Australia at Fed Cup and Olympics.”

A year after needing a wildcard to enter her home major, Daria Gavrilova stands just four ranking spots outside the Top 32 seeds; look for this dangerous floater to rise even higher in 2016.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Two of the WTA’s biggest legends – Serena Williams and Martina Hingis – were both among the WTA Award winners that were announced earlier this week, Williams being voted 2015 WTA Player Of The Year and Hingis part of the 2015 WTA Doubles Team Of The Year, alongside Sania Mirza.

It wasn’t their first time winning those specific WTA Awards, but still a fantastic finish to 2015.

But they’ve both won WTA Player Of The Year before. And WTA Doubles Team Of The Year, WTA Newcomer Of The Year, WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year and WTA Comeback Of The Year.

They’re the only two players ever to win each and every one of the five biggest WTA Awards:

Martina Hingis
WTA Player Of The Year – 1997
WTA Doubles Team Of The Year – 1998 (w/Novotna), 1999 (w/Kournikova), 2015 (w/Mirza)
WTA Newcomer Of The Year – 1995
WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year – 1996
WTA Comeback Of The Year – 2006

Serena Williams
WTA Player Of The Year – 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
WTA Doubles Team Of The Year – 2000 (w/V.Williams), 2009 (w/V.Williams)
WTA Newcomer Of The Year – 1998
WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year – 1999
WTA Comeback Of The Year – 2004

Another one of this year’s winners, Venus Williams, has four of the five – WTA Newcomer Of The Year in 1997, WTA Player Of The Year in 2000, WTA Doubles Team Of The Year in 2000 and 2009, and WTA Comeback Player Of The Year this year. She’s missing WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year.

And Hingis’ doubles partner, Mirza, picked up the WTA Newcomer Of The Year award back in 2005.