Every New Year, Czech tennis player Nicole Vaidisova makes a secret resolution.
In 2004, she vowed to break into the top 100 players in the world rankings. The wish came true, and she ended the year ranked 72.
What the 2005 resolution constituted, the 16-year-old Vaidisova will not say until the year's end. She has, however, already shot to 27th in the world and was a leading light in the Czech Fed Cup team at the weekend.
"In January I make goals for the next January but I keep it to myself," said Vaidisova, a product of the Nick Bollettieri tennis academy in Florida like 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova.
"It's something I've done since I was 10 and I've never told anyone what those goals were and they have always worked out, so I want to keep doing that.
"Last year I had no ranking and I wanted to reach the top 100 but I got to 72, so I was happy with that."
Czech Fed Cup captain Thomas Petera believes Vaidisova is the finest player in her country and a future Grand Slam champion.
"She will definitely be a top-10 player," said Petera. "She is definitely the biggest talent we have in this country.
"She hits the ball very hard from the baseline and she can mix it up if she needs to. I think she can serve at around 180-190 kph."
FIRST WIN
Despite Vaidisova's two straight-sets singles wins in the Liberec world group one play-off, the Czechs lost 3-2 to Italy.
Vaidisova won her first tournament, the Tier IV Vancouver event, last year at the age of 15 years three months -- a year younger than Russian Sharapova was when she won her first tour title.
The win made Vaidisova the sixth youngest singles champion in history. At the time, she was ranked just 180 in the world and had had to come through qualifying.
She reached the third round at Wimbledon last month at the first attempt, matching her third-round appearance at the Australian Open in January, and she beat former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina in Charleston in April as she reached her first Tier I quarter-final.
The 1.81-metre Vaidisova, coached by her father, backs up a fearsome serve with booming groundstrokes.
Introduced to tennis by her mother at the age of six, Vaidisova was also keen on swimming, ballet, gymnastics and basketball as a child.
At 10 she started attending the Bollettieri school and now splits her time between Florida and the Czech Republic.
TOUGHER TOURNAMENTS
In 2003, she won the Orange Bowl, the unofficial under-16s world championship.
Petera thinks life will get harder for Vaidisova now she is joining the ranks of the grown-ups in an increasing number of tournaments.
"She has to concentrate on her game because now she will starting playing much tougher tournaments than she is used to playing in," he said.
For the moment, Vaidisova is enjoying her relative obscurity.
"Where I live [in Florida] it's kind of like a hip place, so even if Sharapova walks through the mall no-one recognises her either.
"In the Czech Republic I don't play exhibitions or go to parties so mostly people just read about me in the paper. Sometimes I get stared at but it's not like there is a crowd running behind me.
"It is hard to do everything and sometimes I have to pass up on normal life. I can't have a weekend away with friends but I have a huge opportunity to make something in my tennis life."
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