… to play Madison Keys tomorrow

IN this year 2018, Sachia Vickery has been enjoying her best season of her budding career and from the looks of things, it will surely get better.

Vickery, now ranked 76 in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), will play #13-ranked Madison Keys in the first round of the 2018 French Open tomorrow.
It will be the second meeting between the two players, with Keys winning the first in 2014 in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

Keys is known as one of the top players in the world, but like Vickery, has never won a Grand Slam, though she has featured in the 2017 U.S. Open final where she lost to Sloane Stephens (6-3, 6-0).

Meanwhile, for the first time, Vickery was an automatic main draw for the French Open, telling Chronicle Sport in an exclusive interview, that she’s extremely happy that her efforts and good form this year is being recognised.

“I’m really happy that I’ll be in the main draw at the French Open for the first time, off my own rankings and without any wild card or qualification; I’m really happy about that and I’ll also be in the main draw at Wimbledon this year with my ranking,” said the 23-year-old Vickery, who, despite being American, carries the Golden Arrowhead as a representative of her parents; Rawle Vickery and Paula Liverpool.

Looking back, Vickery pointed out: “I’m really happy with the year that I’ve had so far, I had some really big wins and it gave me the confidence for tournaments that follow.”

This year, Vickery notched wins against some of tennis’ biggest names, including Eugenie Bouchard, current world #3-ranked and former French Open (2016) and Wimbledon champion (2017) Garbiñe Muguruza and 2017 ASB Classic champion Lauren Davis just to name a few.

“I’m just going to strive to continue on that path and keep playing the way I’ve been playing. My practice have been going very well and I’m hoping to try and break the top 50 by the end of this year, so I’m just going to keep going,” Vickery said.