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ROLAND GARROS

May 28, 2015

Madison Keys

PARIS, FRANCE

M. KEYS/B. Bencic
6-0, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations. So much praise for your game, for you as tennis player. How do you handle that, the expectations, you being No. 1 in two years. I think Brad Gilbert said it.
MADISON KEYS: Wow. That's a bold statement. I'm really just trying to focus on myself and my own expectations, you know, the critique of my team and that, and not really worrying about what anybody else says.

Q. This wasn't an easy couple of rounds to start a tournament. I am wondering, what were your expectations when you saw that draw and what your expectations were here in Paris? Does that change at all given what you've done last two rounds?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, obviously not easy first round playing Varvara, and Belinda is also a great player. So I knew it was going to be tough. I knew I was going to have to be playing well and kind of in my best form in order to get past them. Just really happy with kind of how I managed to fight through the first one. I thought I played really well today.

Q. A lot of players said that the balls were really slow. Roger Federer said they were dead. How did you experience that?
MADISON KEYS: They're definitely very heavy. It's not only the court where it doesn't bounce as much and things like that, but the balls are definitely a lot heavier than they were the last couple weeks.

Q. What do you think you've learned the most on clay this year so far?
MADISON KEYS: You know, I've really just been trying to kind of implement my aggressive game, but also adding some more margin and shape to it, and, you know, kind of waiting for the right ball; whereas on the on a faster surface I can get the right ball quicker. On clay I have to wait a couple more shots.

Q. How much do you miss the coaching at Grand Slam tournaments as opposed to the tour where your coach can come on court?
MADISON KEYS: I don't really think about it, honestly. I think going into a Grand Slam you know you're not going to be able to use it so you don't even think about it. Although in the first round I did like almost motion for him to come out. I was like, No, wait. We're at Grand Slam. Can't do that. But, yeah, I think you know going into it that you're not going to be able to use it so you don't even worry about it.

Q. Do you just completely discount Charleston as you have played through on the red clay? Does that run mean anything to you on this surface, or do you treat that as green clay, not at all similar to this?
MADISON KEYS: I think it's different. I mean, I definitely think it's -- obviously it was a great tournament for me to get some matches play well and things like that, but it's totally different surface. It's faster. I grew up on it. Red and green clay are completely different. As great as that was, it's definitely kind of a different game here. Happy that I'm able to get the last couple matches on this red clay.

Q. How frustrated were you throughout the red clay season once you came off of that and maybe weren't getting the results that maybe you wanted?
MADISON KEYS: I think going into clay court season I kind of always know I'm probably going to be frustrated at some point. Probably not going to be a whole tournament where I don't think, I wish this was grass. But, I mean, I'm getting more and more comfortable on it each year. It's just different, you know. So I think as time goes on I'll definitely be more comfortable with it. Maybe the frustration levels won't be as high.

Q. If you could go back to the on-court coaching, do you actually miss it when you can't have it? Do you feel like in a certain way it's a crutch players have gotten used to don't need, or you think it's valuable, and how?
MADISON KEYS: I think it can be valuable. I think if it's there I'm going to use it. But at the same time, I don't think anyone really relies on it. Obviously everyone still manages to play without it. So I think it's there so people use it. If it wasn't there, I don't think there would be a huge uproar of people fighting that.

Q. What's your foreign language study background?
MADISON KEYS: I took like eight years of Spanish; can't speak Spanish. I can kind of read Spanish. Took like a year of French, and I can count to ten and say the basics. Other than that, I'm going to have to get like Rosetta Stone or something.

Q. What are your foreign language goals?
MADISON KEYS: I want to be able to somewhat fluently speak some language. Haven't quite picked out which one. I'm going to start with one, and then if I can get one down, then I'll try to branch out. But, yeah, right now I'm not killing it.

Q. Eight years is a pretty good investment already. Maybe he ought to stick with that one, no?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, I can conjugate verbs and stuff like that, but I've never really learned how to speak it.

Q. Because clay is not your favorite surface, maybe you don't set the bar so high when you come on clay. Wondering if that's a mindset you have to change as well, thinking you can do better and letting yourself play your game and be more freer?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I think I definitely don't set the bar as high for me when I'm on clay. It's almost surprising to me when I put together a really good clay court point. But I think the more I've played on it the more I'm kind of realizing I can actually play on it. I slide pretty well. So maybe in a couple years I'll look back and I'll be like Maria where she felt like, what was it, an ice skating cow or hippo or something.

Q. Cow on ice.
MADISON KEYS: Cow on ice. Yes, I thought that a couple times. (Laughter.)

Q. For us Europeans, it always seems the Americans go on court knowing they can win. You won two matches here. What do you think about the tournament as a whole? Serena didn't look too good today. You think you can win it here, or just go step by step?
MADISON KEYS: Definitely just thinking step by step. Not really getting past the next round. Just focusing on what's right ahead of me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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