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July 4, 2018
Wimbledon, London, England
M. KEYS/L. Kumkhum
6-4, 6-3
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. How was it? You looked good. Looked like you're feeling good and playing well. Give me an update.
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I feel like it was obviously a tough match. I think she played really well kind of the entire time. There was obviously some moments where I don't think I served perfectly or anything like that, but I think I handled myself really well and handled a really tricky opponent well today.
Q. You're a big server. Do you enjoy watching the big servers on the men's side? There is a lot of them right now, a lot of really tall guys and also Americans. Is that something you like?
MADISON KEYS: I'm going to be totally honest with you: I find it kind of boring, sorry, but, yeah, just because it seems like they just hit like 312 aces a match, and, I'm, like, Wow that's a good serve. It's like 7-6 in the fifth and it's been like an hour and a half.
Q. What's the biggest adjustment when you come over to grass?
MADISON KEYS: I think the biggest thing is the ball is just -- the ball bounce is just completely different. You go from it being on clay where it usually is bouncing higher, and then all of a sudden the ball doesn't come up at all and you have to be a lot lower.
Q. How does that affect you?
MADISON KEYS: It makes my legs a lot more sore. And I usually have my coach in my ear telling me to get lower a lot more pretty much after every ball. That's pretty much the only difference for me, though.
Q. How do you feel about it?
MADISON KEYS: I feel good about it. I mean, I always do well on grass, so I feel like I have managed to figure it out.
Q. How old were you the first time you ever played on grass?
MADISON KEYS: I think I was 16. I played the Maureen Connolly Cup in Eastbourne and then played Junior Wimbledon the same year Ashe Barty won it. I can't remember if I was 16 or 17.
Q. What was it like, though, when you went there the first time? Must have been really strange?
MADISON KEYS: It was really different. Everyone had told me I was going to love it and like it and all that. So obviously it played fast and it was, you know, a very suitable surface for me. But it definitely took some getting used to and I'm pretty sure I fell a lot the first couple times I was hitting on it. It was one of those surfaces that for me I very quickly got comfortable on it.
Q. Are you following the World Cup at all? If you are, is there anyone you're rooting for in particular?
MADISON KEYS: I watched England play last night. I was actually watching with Laura. She was singing the "it's coming home" song consistently for, like, two-and-a-half hours (smiling).
Where I am in the Village I can hear the Rose & Crown. My TV was ahead of theirs, so something would happen and Laura would scream, and then, like, five seconds later the whole pub would scream. I was actually into it at the very end. So now I'm cheering for England.
Q. Can you give an idea of how big Wimbledon is back home for you in America? It seems like there are a lot of American fans here. Are you aware of how big does it feel compared to other tournaments?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, I definitely think it's one of "the" most-known tournaments. I mean, the reason I started playing tennis was because of Wimbledon essentially.
So I think it's obviously a tournament that's on a lot, but I think just because of the history behind it it just seems a little bit more well-known.
Q. What do you make of the fact that four of the top eight women seeds have lost now for the first time in the open era at Wimbledon and that there has been such turnover in winners on the women's slams' side?
MADISON KEYS: I think it just shows the depth of women's tennis right now. I think at the beginning of a tournament, it's really -- you'd never know who's going to win. Really on any given day if someone is playing better than the other, I mean, there is no 100% winners anymore. I think every single match is competitive.
Q. How does that affect your approach both to a tournament as a whole and to the individual matches?
MADISON KEYS: I never really look at a tournament as a whole. Just for myself. I just take it one match at a time. Honestly I never even really look at the draw, and so for me I just know that everyone is going to come out and be playing well and every match is going to be tough.
I go out with, you know, the list of things that I need to work on and make sure that I'm trying to execute that day, and just try to do that.
Q. I know you don't look at the draw, but do you know about Serena, where she is in the draw at all?
MADISON KEYS: I know she's on my half, because she's playing today (smiling). I don't know where she is.
Q. It could be not your next match but the one after. I just wonder what it would be like for you playing her here, she's won this seven times, must be an amazing thing to play her here?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, I feel like everywhere I have played her, they're like, She's won this 15 times. I'm like, Yeah, same as somewhere else she won 15 times.
Obviously I'm focused on my next match, and hopefully if I can get past that one, then that would be a really fun experience for me.
And, yeah, I mean, hopefully I can get to that match (smiling).
Q. You mentioned you seem to have a good game for grass. You must feel you have a chance of going really well here and going even further than you have in the past?
MADISON KEYS: I feel really good about how I'm playing, but obviously there is a lot of great players in the draw and there's obviously already been a lot of upsets. Right now I'm just really trying to kind of put my blinders on and just worry about the next match.
Q. You said you don't look at the draw. Is that something you have always done or was there a time maybe when you were young and you did look at them and maybe got a bit gassed up, I can beat this girl, this girl and...
MADISON KEYS: I have never really looked at the draw in the sense of who I could play or matchups or anything like that. Now with Twitter it's obviously pretty hard to avoid that kind of stuff. I will look to see where I am and occasionally, you know, I'll see a good matchup.
But other than that, I'm just more focused on trying to get through the one match in front of me.
Q. Do you avoid them when you look at your name in the draw, do you make sure you don't see anything else?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, honestly now it's usually, like, you go on Twitter when the draw is out and you have a tweet, Oh, I'm playing this person? Okay, I'm done.
Q. I'm assuming you're still with Lindsay, right?
MADISON KEYS: I'm with Dave Taylor. I mean, Lindsay and I, she helped me through the French, but it was kind of more just I don't have anyone, will you help me? I mean, here I think I have texted her every single day (smiling).
She's still very much a part of my tennis.
Q. So what did you do right after the French? Where did you train? How did you train for the grass? Like, what was it like?
MADISON KEYS: I actually went back to Orlando for a bit and Ola had helped me leading into the French, the head of women's tennis for USTA.
He helped me leading into Paris, so before London, it made sense that I was there and he was there, so he helped me out for a week.
And then I came here a week early and was able to hit on the grass with Dave.
Q. Independence Day back home today?
MADISON KEYS: It is, yes.
Q. How do you celebrate an Independence Day win at Wimbledon? What will you do?
MADISON KEYS: Well, I won so that's a good start. Happy. I don't know. Maybe have a barbecue or something. Obviously London doesn't really care about the 4th of July. There's not much going on.
Q. Is that Laura Robson you were talking about earlier?
MADISON KEYS: Yes.
Q. You mentioned Serena earlier, and that whenever you hear about her she's won this tournament a million times, et cetera. What do you think is the most important thing you have learned from her example or competing against her?
MADISON KEYS: I think the most impressive thing about Serena is that no matter what she's done, she always wants more and I think it's really impressive that, you know, she's never really satisfied. She's obviously very happy with what she's done, but it's something that I look up to and strive to be like where I'm never satisfied after trying and completing a goal that I've set.
Q. Do you think you're at that stage now where you have that same mentality?
MADISON KEYS: I think the mentality might be there, but the numbers are obviously very different (smiling).
Q. What are your first impressions of Dave Taylor, then, and his coaching?
MADISON KEYS: It's been great. He has been really good for me just because I like how we focus a lot on what I do well and how to use that more and get better at using that. But also working on the weaknesses that I do have and tweaking those to not really think of them so much as weaknesses but just make them solid to set up for my strengths.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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