Champions Corner: Madison Keys and the making of a Grand Slam winner

This is how it had to be for Madison Keys.

The newly minted member of the Grand Slam Champions Club has endured more than her fair share of gut-wrenching losses and injuries over her 15-year career. But her hard work and earnest perseverance was finally rewarded at the Australian Open, where the 29-year-old came through one of the toughest roads to a major title in recent memory. 

Seeded No.19, Keys’ inspired fortnight included wins over Danielle Collins, Elena Rybakina, Elina Svitolina, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka. That’s four Top 10 seeds, including No.1 and No.2 in back-to-back nail-biters.

In her press conference, Keys spoke extensively about the importance of therapy in her journey. The process helped her detangle her notions of self-worth from her tennis, which was not only a threat to her happiness and well-being but also undermined her on-court performance. 

So how did Keys go from being a player shackled by her own nerves to one who saved a match point against Swiatek in the semifinal and edged Sabalenka 7-5 in the third set of the final? 

“Let’s make it completely clear,” Keys said, laughing. “I really wanted this still. I still really wanted to win a Grand Slam. I just wasn’t laying in bed at night thinking I’m a failure if I don’t win one anymore. These are two different things, but I just feel like it’s healthier to just want to win one.

“At the end of the day, I want to win every tournament that I’m in the draw of. I feel like I’m getting a lot better with that being enough and that being OK and I can just play tennis. As long as I can continue to want to win matches and tournaments and not need them, then I think things will be good.”

If you want to see what a Madison Keys decoupled from crippling pressure looks like, look back at the absurd forehand winner she hit at 5-5, 30-30 in the third set of the final. Sabalenka stepped in to crush a flat ball deep into Keys’ forehand, and the American responded with a perfectly struck forehand that seemed to double the ball’s incoming pace.

“That’s kind of just how I want to play tennis,” Keys said. “I’m not going to sit here and say that forehand at 30-30 is going to go in all the time. It might not. Sometimes it might go out, sometimes I might bury it in the bottom of the net. But sometimes it will go in. 

"If I can continue to try and do that consistently, then not only will good things happen but I’ll always walk away and be proud of myself, and that’s all I want at this point, to be proud of what I leave out there. That’s what I’m getting better at, being able to consistently be proud of not only my level, but my ability to problem-solve and be very aware of what’s going on.”

It wasn’t the first time Keys would leave a Grand Slam tournament in tears. But this time, they were of the happy variety. As tempting as it might be for these new memories to erase the bad ones, Keys cast off the thought. 

“I think those tough moments are always going to live there, but I think they’re things that build who you are as a person,” Keys said on the WTA Insider Podcast. “I don’t think it has to be necessarily good or bad, where it’s a bad moment it necessarily has to live there forever. You can learn a lot through a lot of tough moments.

"I'm so proud of myself, and I feel like the way that I won this tournament means so much more. The place that I am in my life, I'm able to actually really appreciate it. Had I won it earlier, where I was in my life, I don’t know if it would have meant the same and I don’t know if I would have even been able to have done it.”

Keys' triumph was a massive story, but it was not the only story from two engrossing weeks in Melbourne. Let's break down more of the highlights from the latest Grand Slam fortnight Down Under:

Honor Roll

Aryna Sabalenka: The 26-year-old Sabalenka nearly became the first woman to win three straight Australian Open titles since Martina Hingis (1997-1999), but she fell just a bit short in the final. Nevertheless, it was still a fortnight to remember for the World No.1.

By winning her semifinal, Sabalenka became the first woman to win 20 consecutive Australian Open matches since Hingis. She is also the first woman to reach three straight Australian Open finals since Serena Williams (2015-2017). 

"I have to be anyway proud of myself with the finals, three finals in the row," Sabalenka said after the final. "That's something crazy. I hope that next year I'll come back as a better player, and I'll hold Daphne [the champion's trophy, the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup] one more time."

Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend: The No.1 seeds won the Australian Open women's doubles title, shaking off a second-set comeback by Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko in the final.

Siniakova and Townsend are 15-1 at Grand Slam events in their relatively short partnership. Siniakova also becomes the first woman in 10 years to amass 10 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (Hingis, again, was the last player to do this, notching her 10th in 2015).

Paula Badosa: The Spaniard posted a career-best Grand Slam result by upsetting Coco Gauff to reach her first major semifinal. Badosa has made more Grand Slam quarterfinals in the last two Slams (two) than she had before her 2024 injury comeback (one).

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: Never count out Pavs in Melbourne. Playing in her 63rd career Grand Slam main draw, the 33-year-old veteran made it into her fourth Australian Open quarterfinal and battled No.1 Sabalenka for three sets.

Belinda Bencic: Bencic is back. Contesting her first Grand Slam since her maternity leave, the 2021 Olympic champion reached the Round of 16 and pushed No.3 Coco Gauff to three sets before bowing out.

Olivia Gadecki and John Peers: The Aussies notched the Australian Open mixed doubles title on home soil, squeaking past their compatriots and fellow wild cards Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the final. It is 22-year-old Gadecki's first Grand Slam title. 

Wakana Sonobe: The 17-year-old became the first Japanese player to win a Junior Grand Slam in singles since 1969 by triumphing in Melbourne. She had already come close last year, finishing runner-up at the 2024 Junior US Open.

Hot Shots

Coco Gauff won a scintillating exchange at the tail end of her come-from-behind win over Belinda Bencic in the Australian Open Round of 16:

And Ons Jabeur pulled off one of her magical drop shots to close out the second set in her third-round meeting with Emma Navarro in Melbourne:

Notable Numbers

12: Madison Keys is on a 12-match winning streak over the past three weeks. She took the Adelaide and Australian Open titles back to back.

4: Keys is only the fourth woman in the Open Era to defeat four Top 10 seeds en route to a Grand Slam singles title, joining Evonne Goolagong (Wimbledon 1980), Mary Pierce (Australian Open 1995) and Li Na (Roland Garros 2011).

1: Keys is the first woman to defeat the WTA’s top two players at a Grand Slam event since Svetlana Kuznetsova (2009 Roland Garros), and the first at the Australian Open since Serena Williams (2005).

4: Paula Badosa became only the fourth Spanish woman in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam singles semifinal, joining Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Conchita Martínez and Garbiñe Muguruza.

3: Mirra Andreeva became the third woman in the past three decades to make consecutive Round of 16 appearances at the Australian Open before turning 18 years old. She joins Martina Hingis (1996-98) and Nicole Vaidisova (2006-07).

1: By beating No.5 seed Zheng Qinwen in the second round, Laura Siegemund became the first German woman to claim a Top 5 win at the Australian Open since Angelique Kerber defeated Serena Williams in the 2016 final.

From the Camera Roll

Eva Lys gives a thumbs up during her second-round qualifying match. It's almost as if she knew she would make the Round of 16 over a week later, becoming the first lucky loser to make it that far since the event moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.

Aryna Sabalenka leaped into her third straight Australian Open final. The 2023 and 2024 champion will retain her World No.1 ranking as she exits Melbourne.

Madison Keys enjoys a day out with Daphne. See more from the champion's photoshoot with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup here. 

Next Up

After a month Down Under, the Hologic WTA Tour shows no signs of slowing down as it heads to two indoor hard-court events starting on Monday. Get all the info surrounding the WTA 500 Upper Austria Ladies Linz and the WTA 250 Singapore Open here.

Linz: Scores | Order of Play | Draws
Singapore: Scores | Order of Play | Draws

At Linz, Karolina Muchova accepted a wild card and will be the No.1 seed, while Elina Svitolina will try to keep her momentum rolling as the No.2 seed. Svitolina made her 12th career Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open.

Singapore, meanwhile, returns to the Hologic WTA Tour calendar for the first time since its five-year run as the WTA Finals host concluded in 2018. Anna Kalinskaya is the No.1 seed, and the draw also features Grand Slam champion Emma Raducanu as the No.7 seed.