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WIMBLEDON

July 2, 2016

Madison Keys

London, England

M. KEYS/A. Cornet
6‑4, 5‑7, 6‑2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you put into words this tournament so far? It seems like it's been sort of a pain with the rain and sort of annoying.
MADISON KEYS: I feel like had we not had Paris, it wouldn't be that bad (laughter). But on top of Paris, it's just been a lot. But, I mean, I think we all come here knowing we're probably going to be on and off a bunch. Rain is going to come. Fingers crossed, there is less rain in the next couple of days.
But, I mean, I have been really lucky, gotten on the court and played matches and haven't had to stop because of the rain. I have been lucky that way.

Q. In general though the struggles, second set, does it make you stronger? Is it kind of like what a Grand Slam is all about, the strongest survives at the end? Anything like that?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, it would have been nice to win in straight sets. But it's definitely good to figure out tough situations and be able to play better in the third set, like, I think I came out and I really changed my tactics and played a lot better in the third set.
So being able to come off of a bad set maybe and then have a more solid set I think makes me feel pretty good.

Q. You have become super solid and reliable at Grand Slams. Get into the second week routinely now. How does it feel to be automatic?
MADISON KEYS: It's definitely not automatic (smiling). I wish it was automatic.
But, no, it feels good. I mean, it's one of my biggest goals is to be more consistent. Last year I was obviously more consistent in the slams than in the smaller tournaments, but obviously you still want to be consistent in the slams.
So it's something that I'm working on, but it definitely feels really good to be in another second week.

Q. On a day that Sam Querrey beat Novak Djokovic and Steve Johnson advanced and a day after Venus and Serena advance, what are your thoughts right now at this exact moment about the state of American tennis at Wimbledon.
MADISON KEYS: Well, it's not dead, and I'm really happy that we're having positive conversations about it for once (smiling).
No, I mean, it was amazing to watch Sam today. I had Sam one court and Stevie on the other while I was warming up for my match. It was amazing to watch those guys do so well.
Really close with both of them. It's really fun to see people who you know work so hard get to have great tournaments like this.

Q. What do you make of the upset from Sam? How do you think he was able to pull it off?
MADISON KEYS: I didn't get to watch the first two sets. Then today, I watched little bits of it. Obviously I don't think Novak was playing his absolute best, but I'm really, really happy that Sam was able to come out and not play a very good game at 6‑5 and be able to come back from being down a break and win that tiebreaker. It was really amazing to watch.
So I think he just stuck to his guns and he played well.

Q. Knowing Sam as well as you do, are you surprised? He's not a guy who has had a lot of big slam wins in his career, like, 'Big Stage Sam.'
MADISON KEYS: I'm going to text him later. 'Big Stage Sam' (smiling).

Q. Knowing him as you do, are you surprised he's the guy to end the Djokovic streak?
MADISON KEYS: It's one of those things you know he can play really good tennis. It's not super surprising. It's obviously surprising in the fact that Djokovic has won like four in a row and lost three matches in the last year. So that's surprising.
But the quality of tennis that Sam played isn't surprising seeing it come from him.

Q. Is the Sam you know much different? We see him as this incredibly relaxed chill guy. For this competitive world, he seems very zen and whatever.
MADISON KEYS: No, he is. He's so much fun, and just, I mean, obviously the fact that that one video is going around everywhere. It started as a Snapchat and we got it in the middle of dinner as we were all sitting there. It became this week‑long thing of his where he'd send us ridiculous Snapchats.
So the fact that that's going everywhere is amazing. That's just Sam. What you see in that picture is it what he does on weekends. It's what we get Snapchats of all of the time.
He's just a really down‑to‑earth, funny, relaxed guy.

Q. He lives his life with backup dancers and horse masks? That's a weekend?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah. That's a pretty normal weekend. You don't do that?

Q. Not much.
MADISON KEYS: You should try it.

Q. What do you like most about his game?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, he's got a pretty good serve.

Q. I think you guys played twice, your opponent, Cornet and you. Do you get under each other's skin? Is it a little contention? The other times you have played, maybe I read it wrong, seems a little contention out there.
MADISON KEYS: Was it?

Q. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe.
MADISON KEYS: I mean, you know she's gonna have her, whatever. She's gonna be falling over and that kind of stuff. But she does it every match. So I think it's really important for me to just stay more focused on myself and that's what I was doing.

Q. It wasn't distracting? Didn't throw you off?
MADISON KEYS: No.

Q. Since you're a second‑week slam veteran now, what's the difference between first week and second week for you?
MADISON KEYS: I feel like it was almost a restart button that's pushed and it's almost two separate tournaments. Obviously, usually we have that middle Sunday to kind of really feel it.
But, no, I think everyone just gets a little bit more focused. The matches get tougher, because obviously you're playing people who have won multiple matches.
I think it's more just you feel everything a little bit more once the second week kind of rolls around.

Q. Has there been talk about or any sort of buzz around middle Sunday actually being used for play this year in the locker room?
MADISON KEYS: Not really. We kind of thought they were going to have to. I think we would have been more surprised had they not used it. Because, I mean, even today we are barely finishing and tons of matches got canceled. They had to use it.
So I think we were all just kind of waiting for that announcement.

Q. Are you sort of sad to miss out in a sense or just happy that you're on to Monday?
MADISON KEYS: I'm very happy that I'm on to Monday. I do kind of miss the really quiet Sunday feel. But obviously they didn't want to use it. Unfortunately Mother Nature just wanted us to play tomorrow.

Q. What are your thoughts about the biggest challenges of Simona's game?
MADISON KEYS: I think her movement is a huge part. She's able to get so many balls. I feel like you have to win the point two and three and four times, just because she's able to cover the court so well and anticipate.

Q. What does that do to your psyche as you're trying to get her not to catch up to things?
MADISON KEYS: I think you just have to know that there's going to be a lot of balls that come back and not get frustrated when you do have to hit those extra balls.
So I think going in, you know points are going to be longer. She's going to get a lot of balls back. You're probably going to lose a couple of points just because she's going to get that one ball in.

Q. Today you were obviously the higher seed, you're put on No. 1 court, expected to win. Does it feel like real life, that this is where you've worked your way towards in your career?
MADISON KEYS: I haven't really thought about it, honestly. You know, today it was funny, I was walking on to Court 1 as the higher ranked player for the first time. Obviously that's a different set of nerves that I'm learning to deal with. You know, hopefully I get to keep trying to learn how to deal with those things, because it means that I'm, you know, where I want to be.

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