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With new Star Ratings out this week, many junior players are seeing the direct payoffs of all their recent hard work. We caught up with a few outstanding players in this month's PlaySight Hot 100.

The PlaySight Hot 100 is published each month, and the September Hot 100 lists feature the one hundred boys and girls who most improved their rankings during the month of August. You can find out more about the PlaySight Hot 100 - and how the lists are calculated - by reading here.

The latest lists, published earlier this week, are available here:

• Boys' Hot 100
• Girls' Hot 100

We talked to a few of these top performers...

Roundup

Clemente Varas (Sammamish, Wash.)

Three-star junior Clemente Varas recently came back to full-time tennis after some injuries. He had stressed both his back and shins a few months ago - close to the point of fracture - due to over-training. During this time period, he greatly decreased his daily hours on the court, which was a discouraging experience for him.

Through physical therapy, however, Varas was able to make a full recovery and came back healthier and stronger than ever before. "It definitely taught me to never take tennis for granted and to enjoy it, because you never know when it can get taken away from you," he said.

When Varas returned, he made some big changes to his practices. "This summer, my coach and I really focused on the mental part of the game and how so many players don't pay as much attention to that," Varas said. "This has made a huge difference in my game, and I feel like I did a great job putting it all together this past month."

Varas works with head coach Justin Bower of the Redmond Tennis Club. The young player says that strong values are a huge part of he and Bower's training together.

"What my coach [says] is that training is more than just becoming a great tennis player. A lot of people are great tennis players but don't have good character," he said. "Every day he reminds me of values that we need to stay true to and which will not only help us in tennis, but in life after tennis."

These recent changes paid off last month for this lefty who plays right-handed. He won two tournaments in August, the Silver Lake Junior Advanced Tournament and the Amy Yee Junior Advanced, earning an 8-0 record for the month.

Varas has not only found success in tennis. The tennis values instilled in him at the Redmond Tennis Club extend to his academic life as well. He takes several AP and honors courses each year and has a 3.95 GPA.

"The main reason I have accomplished this is due to tennis. Tennis has disciplined me and has given me a good work ethic that has helped me tremendously in school," he said.

These values are equally important to Varas when considering college. "I would love to get into a college that has a tennis team where character and values along with hard work is very important to them. I would love to play for any team that holds those values close to them," he said.

To Varas, tennis is far more than a sport. His recent injuries and his coaches have taught him that. "Our tennis careers won't last forever, but what we built in those practices and what we learned through those long hard hours of training will always be there."