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INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIAMay 13, 2016Madison KeysRome, Italy M. KEYS/B. Strycova 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Did you know you could play so well on the clay too? MADISON KEYS: No (smiling). Q. What are your feelings on being in the semifinals of a big red clay tournament in Europe this year? MADISON KEYS: I'm excited. I did not think coming into this whole kind of stretch that things would go well. I mean, even in Madrid I felt like I was playing pretty well on the clay and really just hopefully I can keep things going and, you know, keep it going tomorrow and hopefully at the end of the week be really happy. Q. Has something clicked for you in your game that you just figured it out? MADISON KEYS: Seems like it. I think it's just been finding the balance of being aggressive but at the right moments. I think a lot of the time I would either be too defensive or too aggressive, and I think it's finding the right balance. Q. How was today's match for you against someone who is very happy to mix it up and give you lots of different shots, spins, lots of opportunities to miss? How difficult was it to just stay in each point and just reign yourself in, as well? MADISON KEYS: It's difficult. I mean, her weapon is making you miss and just getting that one extra ball and things like that. There's obviously times I wasn't happy I was making the mistake, but I think you also have to beat her because she's going to stay on the other side and make a lot of balls. I think it was a balance between taking the risk and also having a big target. Q. The third set, it seemed like, for the most part, beginning half of it that she was kind of better, that she had the momentum coming out of the second and you just kind of steeled yourself and ran away with it in the end. Was there a mental moment where you were just kind of like, Enough? Seemed like your forehand all of a sudden started clicking again right on time. MADISON KEYS: I think I went into the kind of the middle of the second set and I got a little too passive. She does really well if you give her that little bit of extra time and she gets to one more ball and one more ball. I think it got to a point where I was thinking, you know, win or lose I'm going to have to take the shots and try to go for some stuff. I think I just kind of stepped up and changed my mentality to be a little bit more aggressive, and slowly things kind of started clicking. Q. Is it easier for you to not start feeling sorry for yourself in the middle, when you have a player bringing balls back and bringing balls back and earning those errors, to stay positive and to stay with it? MADISON KEYS: It's difficult, obviously. Like with her, you feel like you hit four winners and the ball is coming back over the net. There is definitely times when you're thinking, ohh... But I think if you get stuck on that it can really just bring you down. I think that's really the difficult part of playing somebody like Barbora. Q. Has your attitude changed towards clay to make this possible? I have been at French Open press conferences of yours in years past you were so excited the clay was over and you could move on to grass. MADISON KEYS: I'm still very excited for grass. Let's put that out there right now. Q. But has your mindset or willingness to, I don't know, to go for it on clay something where your attitude changed? MADISON KEYS: I think over the years I have just eventually accepted that this -- we're not going to not have a clay court season, so going into it being positive about it is the only way to deal with it. I think this year it's just been, Okay, let's do a little bit better than last year, and not really getting ahead of myself and really just focusing each match just trying to do what I'm here for. Q. Nothing's completely cemented yet, but this run has done a lot for your Olympic hopes in terms of getting that fourth spot in the U.S. team. How big of a goal is that for you this year? MADISON KEYS: Definitely a very big goal for me. I'm trying not to think about it too much and sitting there and figuring out points and all of that, but, you know, it's definitely something that's in the back of my mind. Q. Just checking. You were rubbing your arm quite a bit in the second and third set. Is it bothering you more? The conditions are heavier today than they have been in the past? MADISON KEYS: It was a little cold. Balls were a little bit heavier. It was a little bit tight. But I'd like to think of myself as a doctor since I watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy, so I feel like I figured it out (laughter). Q. You have Muguruza next. Thoughts on that. MADISON KEYS: I'm excited. I don't know if we have ever played each other in a tournament. Obviously Coach is going to watch and figure out tactics and things like that. So we'll think about it later tonight and tomorrow morning and see what happens. Q. What about Rome? You visited Rome. Do you like the city? MADISON KEYS: Yes, Rome is one of my favorite cities in the world. Q. You're with a coach who has had a lot of clay court success as a coach before. Has he gotten anything through to you, going back to the clicking question, anything he's said that's made the surface make more sense to you? MADISON KEYS: I don't think so. I think it's really just been slowly practicing more and more on, you know, when to take the chance and when to kind of back off and play the right balls. But, I mean, I think that happens on every surface. I don't think it's specifically just clay. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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