New Year's Resolutions for the Top Stars in Women's Tennis

While most people pledge to start running or to cut out one of life's guilty pleasures, tennis' top women will be setting themselves the type of New Year's resolutions that only the game's best can aspire to achieve.

Eugenie Bouchard's Grand Slam performances this year were exceptional, but she will be desperate to turn semi-final appearances in Melbourne and Paris into finals and truly arrive.

Madison Keys will finish the year ranked No. 30, but after spending time in the top 20 this season she will use her holiday break to identify the route forward.

The aforementioned players and two others will have their targets for 2015 mapped out in the following slides.

Caroline Wozniacki: Cut out Defeats to Middle-Ranked Players at Grand Slams

Mark Baker/Associated Press

There's no questioning the fact that Caroline Wozniacki will be aware of this bad habit. Cutting it out is easier said than done, though.

Even Wozniacki's well-documented friendship with her U.S. Open conqueror, Serena Williams, wouldn't have softened the blow of losing her second Grand Slam final.

She was looking to achieve a golden moment of her own after losing to Kim Clijsters in 2009, with the Belgian winning 7-5 6-3 just weeks after returning to the game as a mother.

Defeat to Williams kept Wozniacki at arms length, but it was still her best showing at a Grand Slam since the Australian Open in 2012.

In between her defeats to Williams this year and Svetlana Kuznetsova in Melbourne last year, Wozniacki has played in six Grand Slam tournaments, losing to players with an average ranking of 87.

Herein lies the issue for the Dane. She'd gone into those six tournaments ranked no lower than 16, making the frequency with which she's been beaten by supposedly inferior players all too high.

Next month's Australian Open will give Wozniacki an early chance to put this New Year's resolution into action.

Maria Sharapova: Make Rivalry with Serena Williams Less One-Sided

Alan Diaz/Associated Press

You might expect first and second ranked players in a sport to have a tighter rivalry than the one shared by Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.

Peter Bodo wrote for ESPN that it is the "best nonrivalry in the history of tennis," a telling point given that Sharapova has not beaten Williams since the end of season championship in 2004.

The pair have had public feuds that seem to have distorted the dynamics of the on-court rivalry. In 2013, Sharapova lost four times to Williams, taking just one set off the American.

It seems that Sharapova's best chance of knocking Williams off the summit is by beating her. It will surely happen sooner or later, despite Williams' penchant for thumping defeats over the Russian.

Williams' search for 20 Grand Slams could easily be achieved next year, giving her extra incentive to blow the field away. However, if Sharapova is to end one of the most significant losing streaks in tennis, then an early marker against Williams at a Grand Slam would taste even sweeter. 

Eugenie Bouchard: Get over the Line at the Grand Slams

Joseph Nair/Associated Press

Eugenie Bouchard has time on her side, but her steely nature will be a driving force in her quest to improve 2014's excellent Grand Slam showings. 

The Canadian reached the final at Wimbledon as well as the semi-finals at the Australian and French Opens.

While misplaced expectation must be carefully avoided, Bouchard will surely make it her aim to go one better in the Grand Slams and reach another final.

That she was beaten by the eventual winners in Melbourne and Paris is some consolation, but against Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon she was simply not at the Czech's level. 

Mike Dickson wrote for the Daily Mail that Bouchard's game is built on, "Taking the ball early, sharp tactical acumen and a natural inclination to fight to the very last point."

It wasn't for a lack of fight that Bouchard fell at Wimbledon, so perhaps it is that tactical acumen that will need to rise to the top if she is to make her second Grand Slam final in 2015.

Madison Keys: Look Beyond the Second Round

David Vincent/Associated Press

What must Madison Keys do to make the top 20 a permanent home? For a start, she will need to make sure she improves on her unenviable feat of being knocked out in the second round or earlier in 15 of the 22 tournaments she has competed in this year.

The fact that she came up against Maria Sharapova and Li Na in two of those matches is not to be ignored. However, if she has realistic ambitions of becoming an American superstar she will need to find a solution. 

An excellent win at Eastbourne in June proved she has the potential, beating Jelena Jankovic and Angelique Kerber on grass.

Keys' New Year's resolution could even be to ensure she's the highest ranked American behind Serena Williams, with Venus Williams the only other player currently ahead of her and Varvara Lepchenko and Sloane Stephens in close pursuit. 

However, Wimbledon.com quoted Keys as saying: "I think we've lived with the internal pressure and wanting to do well for so long, we're not really concerned with the country's pressure."