Madison Keys finished her 2024 season in early October, but after an eventful 10-week offseason she couldn’t wait to get on the plane to New Zealand.

“I got here two days ago -- I think?” she told wtatennis.com after arriving in Auckland. “I have no idea what planet I’m on. I somehow managed to beat jet lag, and I’ve been pretty normal pretty quickly.”

It’s a new normal, though, because in between training blocks Keys married Bjorn Fratangelo, her longtime boyfriend and coach since 2023. The ceremony in South Carolina was attended by good friends Jessica Pegula, Taylor Townsend and Jennifer Brady. It was, Keys said, the best weekend of her life.

Keys has had some terrific weekends Down Under, where the fast courts accentuate her power. She collected a title in Adelaide in 2022 and advanced to the semifinals in Melbourne in 2015 and 2022.

On Thursday, she and three other Americans play quarterfinal matches at the Adelaide International. Keys has already knocked out Top 20 players Beatriz Haddad Maia and No.8 seed Jelena Ostapenko, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. She takes on No.3 seed Daria Kasatkina, who was a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Australian wild card Emerson Jones.

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The other matchups in this WTA 500 event feature top seed Jessica Pegula against Ashlyn Krueger, No.2 Emma Navarro versus Liudmila Samsonova and No.6 Diana Shnaider opposite Yulia Putintseva.

It’s an important year for Keys, who turns 30 next month. Her big game has carried her to great heights. Her career-high ranking was No.7, and she reached the final of the 2017 US Open, not to mention five other major semifinals.

But a shoulder injury forced Keys to miss last year’s Australian and Middle East swings. She finished the season with only 36 matches, her lowest number in four years. Still, she managed to win the title in Strasbourg and advance to the fourth round at Wimbledon, the quarterfinals in Rome and the semifinals in Madrid.

“Yeah,” Keys said, laughing. “It’s not bad. Looking at my season, the times I was on the court being able to play, I think I did a pretty good job and played some pretty high-level tennis. 

“I think the goal for this year is going to be trying to have my body hold up a little better so I can play more of a full schedule.”

Toward that end, the major focus in those long training days in Orlando was locking in a new serving technique that she first implemented last fall in Asia.

Previously, Keys used the platform stance, keeping her feet spread apart through the entire motion. The pinpoint stance involves sliding the back foot (for right-handers, the right foot) forward, beside the forward foot, before contact. The idea is to relieve some of the stress serving places on critical joints.

“It feels really good,” Keys said. “I just needed to make some changes for my body -- shoulder and hip. It felt like I was able to take some pressure off by making that tweak. I’ve also been trying to work on being the aggressor and get to the net as often as possible.”

Key was the top seed in Auckland, winning her first two matches -- over Lucia Bronzetti and Jaqueline Cristian -- before falling to Clara Tauson in the quarterfinals.

It was appropriate that Keys’ outing in Auckland moved her up to No.20 in the PIF WTA Rankings. The American has finished among the Top 20 for nine of the past 10 years. She’s seeded No.19 at next week’s Australian Open.

“It’s something I’m very proud of,” Keys said. “It’s maybe not the goal at the beginning of the year, but at the end it’s always something you’re thinking about. I think at the end of the day it’s about having as much consistency as possible. 

“There’s obviously highs and lows throughout an entire season so it’s really about managing week by week.”

With the recent success of so many players approaching their 30th birthday or even past it -- Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Donna Vekic and Danielle Collins -- is it possible her best tennis could still be ahead?

“I do really think so,” Keys said. “It’s how things are starting to trend a little bit. I think the 30-and-beyond is no longer the end of a career.

“I can’t wait to see where I’m at.”