After years of beating herself up for failing to win a Grand Slam singles title, Madison Keys finally relented. That hard-fought realization -- that her career was still extra-special, that 99.99999 percent of the world’s millions and millions of tennis players will never win a major -- freed her to actually go out and win one.

Keys’ victory at the Australian Open, when she defeated World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set final, changed the way the world viewed the 30-year-old American. Truth be told, she said on Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open, it changed the way she sees herself.

“Coming into this tournament, I would be lying if I said that I don’t have more expectations after having the start of the year that I do,” a refreshed Keys said to reporters. “But I think at the same time it’s really important for me and for my team to remember how we got there and what we were doing. And I think kind of going back to that, and staying really grounded in that is going to be really important.

“I think the balance of being honest with my expectations rising, but also knowing that I don’t think anyone really thrives when you have such a dramatic mind shift so quickly after success.”

Dramatic mind shift. This is the new-and-improved, self-aware Keys. It’s been about six weeks since she lifted a racquet against an opponent. The deep run in Melbourne left her depleted and nursing a sore hamstring, so she passed on the WTA 1000 events in Doha and Dubai.

And yet, her 14 victories (against a single loss) are exceeded by only one player, the ascendant Clara Tauson. With titles in Adelaide and Melbourne, Keys vaulted to No. 5 in the PIF WTA Rankings and has been nearly perfect this year.

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She has a first-round bye in Indian Wells and awaits the winner of the match between Anastasia Potapova and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. 

Keys spent some time at home in Orlando, Florida, resting, rehabilitating and working her way back into practice. She seemed lively and energized when she met the press on Tuesday. This is Keys’ 16th season as a professional and she’s well aware of her veteran status.

“Guys, we’re already starting with … that I’m old? Gosh,” she said, interrupting the first question. “I’m teasing. It’s fine.”

Keys went on to marvel at the success of 20-year-old Coco Gauff -- and reflected on her own start in tennis.

“It feels like she’s been on tour for years and years and years already,” Keys said. “Someone reminds me she’s 20 still, and it blows my mind. I think there’s a maturity that happens when you’re on the tour as young as we were and we’ve been around this for so long. 

“I have now spent over half of my life on this tour. So I don’t really take offense to it when somebody calls me a veteran. I think people kind of forget how young you still are just because they've seen you for a really long time.”

Through therapy, Keys said she learned to peel back the layers and start piecing things together. The breakthrough came when she began to realize that everyone -- the top players included -- feel nerves when the pressure gets ratcheted up.

“I just had this notion that top players and the players that were winning the big tournaments just somehow are able to kind of turn off their nerves and just not have to deal with them. So for me, when nerves would finally start happening, it was an immediate kind of panic of, well, now I’m not going to be able to play well because people can’t win with these feelings.

“So I know for a lot of people it kind of seems like it all kind of happened and it came together, but even through last year, there were a lot of really tough matches where that was something I was actively trying to work on and work through.”

Though there were initial reports that Keys was having that gargantuan Australian Open trophy -- formally known as the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup going back to 1934 -- the sterling chalice flew home with Keys. It’s currently sitting in the guest bedroom, awaiting a proper display space.

“I actually took the trophy home with me,” Keys said, smiling. “It made it on multiple flights in one piece, so that was good.”

So did Keys and right now, in every respect, she’s better than good.