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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 17, 2015

Madison Keys

CINCINNATI, OHIO

M. KEYS/T. Bacsinszky
6‑4, 6‑3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You had 26 unforced errors throughout; 17 in the first set and 9 in the second. What was the difference for you being able to get that number down?
MADISON KEYS: I didn't know I had that many, to be honest. I didn't think I had that many.
I think I definitely played a little bit cleaner in the second set. I think luckily a lot of my errors came being aggressive, trying the right shots, and things like that. Not so much in really bad situations.
So for the most part I was really happy with it. My game is kind of‑‑ I'm probably going to have a lot of unforced errors and have more unforced errors than most people. But at the same time, I'm probably going to have more winners, too.

Q. As your ranking goes up you become a little bit more the hunted. In this situation obviously it was a little tough. A little easier. Not easier. But mentally how different is it to open up as the underdog?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, that's a different mentality. You play with a little bit less pressure. But at the same time, they're obviously ranked where they are because they have great results and they have been doing well and they're great players. So it can be good, but at the same time sometimes they're a great player so you have to up your game.
Today it was just one of those days where I was able to not have to worry about the other person trying to raise their level and beat me because I was the higher‑ranked person.

Q. Putting the results aside, what was your mindset going into tonight's match?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, it was a lot to do with learning from what happened at the French Open. I think at the French she was able to kind of get me with slices and higher balls and things like that.
Tonight it was just really a big thing about patience and staying mentally with her.

Q. Do you think when you step on the court these days that the game plan is simple for you, or is it sometimes, depending on the opponent, more or less complicated? Do you kind of step out there knowing, This is what I have to do?
MADISON KEYS: I think it should be not complicated; sometimes I complicate it. It's usually a pretty simple game plan, and then I get out there and right before I hit a ball I'm like, I'm going to try this instead.
That's when things go terribly wrong. I think tonight I did a really good job of going out and sticking to my simple game plan.

Q. Looking back a year, how has your game evolved?
MADISON KEYS: I think my movement has gotten a lot better. I've been working on it a lot. I think it hasn't shown a ton, but at the same time, I've been having less of the bad matches where I came off the court and I was really disappointed with how I competed.
There has been less of those. It's kind of taking it all and learning bit by bit. So I think those are the two things I've been most happy with.

Q. What's it been like working with Lindsay Davenport, and how has that impacted your game?
MADISON KEYS: It's been great. Lindsay and I are very similar, which is very helpful. So a lot of the times how she handled things is kind of how I handle things as well. Being able to talk to her and hear what she did to figure it out has been really helpful.

Q. We missed you in Toronto. Can you talk through your decision to pull out of there.
MADISON KEYS: My left wrist was bugging me a little bit. I had it taped in Stanford and planning on playing New Haven. As much as I wanted the matches, I also want to be healthy playing all of the matches and be at my best for the US Open.
I thought I might as well skip an earlier tournament than be still taping up every day at the US Open.

Q. That's actually not a common philosophy for younger players who generally like to play through and march through tournaments and everything like that. Does that kind of come naturally to you? Do you need to be convinced that is the right plan?
MADISON KEYS: It's always tough. It's never an easy thing to pull out of a tournament. You always want to play. But I think there has been so many cases where I've gotten hurt at a Grand Slam. Pulling out of Wimbledon because I was hurt was the worst thing.
For me, learning from experience and not pushing myself to the point of completely breaking down is the smarter choice.

Q. How is it now?
MADISON KEYS: Good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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