Anne Keothavong has claimed she would have done broken into the world's top 50 years ago were it not for “unprofessional people” at the Lawn Tennis Association.

The 25-year-old rose four places to 48th in the rankings, following her run to the semi-finals in the Cellular South Cup in Memphis last week.

She is the first British woman since Jo Durie 16 years ago to make it into the top 50, and it continues the relatively late blossoming of a player who was ranked 134th 12 months ago.

But, although Keothavong is now content with the support provided to her by the LTA, she has criticised the sport's governing body in Britain for hampering her progress earlier in her career.

The Londoner, who turned professional in 2001, said she was now reaping the benefits of working with coaches she could trust.

“There have been times when I've questioned whether I should move on and do something different but I never stopped loving tennis and I was willing to try something different, which paid off for me,” she said.

“If I knew what I know now I could've been in the top 50 years ago but I was influenced by some unprofessional people, which didn't help, although ultimately it is down to the individual.

“I'm now working with coaches I trust and, with
their help, I'll continue to improve further.

“I still believe there are unprofessional people working at the LTA and it saddens me because I want to see British tennis get even better.”

Keothavong, who fought back from a cruciate knee ligament injury in 2004, now has her sights set on breaking into the game's elite.

“There's still a lot more work to do as I want to climb further up the rankings and pick up a WTA Tour title somewhere this year,” she told BBC Sport.

“The standard of the top players is very high and intense but that doesn't scare me, it just makes me want to be even better so I can play like them.”

The LTA said today significant changes had been made to women's tennis in Britain, admitting that in the past it had been “seriously overlooked”.

“Anne has had a very good nine months and the combination of her hard work and the knowledge and guidance of her support team have combined to help her achieve a career-high ranking,” said a spokesperson.

“In 2006 one of the first aims of the organisation was to put women's tennis on an equal footing with the men's game as this was an area that had been seriously overlooked. The work of Carl Maes and Nigel Sears in assembling a team focusing specifically on the women's game has been an undoubted success, with improved results across the board. We are therefore confident we have some of the very best people working for the LTA and that we will continue to improve standards across British tennis.”

Britain's top men's player, Andy Murray, returns to action today when he plays Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky, ranked No79 in the world, in the Dubai Tennis Championship. The opening match of the tournament saw No5 seed Croatia's Marin Cilic fight back to beat Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.