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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 7, 2020

Madison Keys

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

M. KEYS/M. Bouzkova

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Who has the first question for Madison?

Q. How was your off-season and how did you feel in your first match?
MADISON KEYS: Pretty good off-season. It's kind of the first off-season in a while that I haven't been dealing with something, so it was nice to have a couple of weeks to get in the gym and be on court and all that. So I was happy about that.

For a first match, I felt pretty good out there. I really like these courts here. They play pretty fast. And it's always nice to go out and just feel like everything is pretty easy and drama-free for your first round.

Q. You served at 70 percent today, first service in. I mean, how big were you going for your serve? Was it just clicking? Were you taking a little bit off to keep percentages up? How did you think you were serving today?
MADISON KEYS: I haven't really thought about it, to be honest. I think it was just working pretty well today. I probably took a little bit of pace off but more just because I felt like I was kind of feeling my slider a little bit more. So, yeah, I mean, it's always nice when you can not only make your first serve, but it feels like it sets up the point really well for you.

Q. Speaking of your off-season and then into pre-season, you said, obviously, if you could kind of start and not worry about the body too much, I guess, but how different outside of that was your pre-season compared to in the past, or was it kind of the same routine?
MADISON KEYS: It was pretty much the same routine. I mean, I don't think any of us do anything that's that different. We go to the gym, we go to the courts, we go back to the gym, and then we go back to the courts. And that's about it for about four to five weeks. So it was just nice to not have to manage anything within there. And I felt like I got a lot of time on the court and in the gym and practiced well on things that we wanted to work on. So I was very excited to get on a plane to Australia and not have to do pre-season anymore.

Q. That was my question for you. Which is that, did you, it sounds like maybe because you didn't have to deal with injury things and could have a proper pre-season that maybe you arrived here more refreshed in terms of mentally, and I don't know, what's your mindset as the year starts?
MADISON KEYS: I think that I'm more than anything just really excited to start the year. It feels like the last match was like forever ago but also not that long ago at all. So it's nice to have a new year and start off on a good note.

Q. Hearing part of the podcast you did talking about your Christmas decorating enthusiasm. What, can you paint a picture for us of what Madison Keys' Christmas decor looks like?
MADISON KEYS: I was less aggressive this year. Last year I had three trees. This year I only had one like a normal person. Partially out of laziness (laughing). But, yeah, we never really decorated when I was younger, so I feel like the like 17, 18 years of no decorating, I've like squashed it all into like the last five or six years. I just very much enjoy Christmas. And I was really excited because we actually got to have Christmas at home this year. So it's basically like the second that you walk up to my front door you, you're very aware that it's December and that Christmas is around the corner.

Q. Is there a design concept or just more is more?
MADISON KEYS: No, it's all like, it all matches the rest of my house. My thing is it's like I don't ever want it to like clash with the rest of my furniture because I'm a psycho person. So it was like all the same colors, all the same vibe, it all matched, it all fit very well. It just happened to be Christmas.

Q. You've played this tournament a few times before. I'm curious what you think of the new setup this year with the ATP Cup coming in, the women not being on the main stadium for the first round at all, and the practice before that and what you make of all that?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, it's a change. We obviously had no control over that situation, so I think we're all just dealing with it and it is what it is. I think I'm definitely happy just to be here and get a win. So that's kind of all I'm worried about so far and hopefully I'm still here on Thursday so I get to play in the stadium.

Q. Do you think it's going to be a player council discussion point going forward?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, if it's, if it's a conversation then, for sure. But I don't think it was even really a conversation that was brought up last year as even an option. So if we can talk about it, I'm sure that we will. We love to have very long meetings, so I'm sure we'll just add that to the agenda.

Q. You were just saying, meaning you had no say, then?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, we had no say.

Q. Your next match is against Stosur. Can you talk through the challenges of playing her? She just got a great win yesterday.
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, Sam's always tough. I think she's beaten me every time we have played. It's also hard to play someone who is going to be playing at home and have the crowd and all that have. But, yeah, I mean, she has a great kick serve and a great forehand and she uses it really well. She had to have played well to beat Angie yesterday. That's not an easy first round. But, yeah, I'm looking forward to it and hopefully get a win for once.

Q. And then also just, do you get a sense at all in terms of is there more chatter or more awareness amongst players about because, obviously, we're in Australia and what's happening is happening and there's a lot of discussion of climate change and things like that. Do you get a sense that it's a little bit more on the minds of players, like, what individually, or even collectively, like, tennis players can do for environmental impact, like that sort of stuff?
MADISON KEYS: I think last year was kind of the first year where people started thinking about just the little things that we do. It drives me crazy because there's like half-drank water bottles everywhere, and then they just end up in the trash. So things like that drive me nuts. I think a lot of people are starting to like carry around their reusable bottles and we're trying to get rid of bags on tennis rackets. And just little changes like that, I think can actually have a really big impact, and I think we're all just trying to be very aware of that. We, obviously, travel a lot and we go through balls and all of that, so there's a lot of things that we do that I think if we can start making small changes that hopefully three, four, five years down the road we have actually made some sort of impact.

Q. On that, just the reusable water bottle thing, only because I've asked because of fans I see them, their like, why can't the players just reusable water bottles on the court. And I have to assume that there's a practical complication with that sometimes. I don't know. Like, is it difficult because you're mixing so many drinks, is it difficult to carry so much?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's, you think, you go through like, I don't know, for like this size you go through eight of them in a match. So you have to think, okay, I'm going to bring 10 of those on the court. They all have to be mixed before the match. Sometimes tournaments have water sponsors and they want us to use those bottles. So there's a lot of different things that go on. It's not that we don't want to be able to use them. I think in the future maybe we can all collectively have really large ones, and even, I think it's a good idea if tournaments could provide them and we can all kind of collectively share them. I think that would be great idea. But it's definitely not that we just don't want to use them. We just like drinking water bottles.

Q. One of the top competitions you might be in it this year is to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. There's a lot of American women who are like in the Top-30 now. How much is that a goal for you?
MADISON KEYS: It's definitely a goal. I got to compete in the 2016 Olympics and it was amazing and I would love to be able to compete in the 2020 Olympics. I don't think I can focus on it too much because if I do I'll drive myself crazy. But it's definitely, it's pretty, it's pretty tough right now. I think the cut as of right now would be like 18 or something. So, yeah, I mean, it is what it is, and there's a lot of American women who are competing really, really hard and I think it's all on our mind, so I guess we'll just see who makes it.

Q. Is it something you guys have talked about amongst yourself or just know how, like, how it's an incredibly high cut, like, there's great players like Sloane or them, who are currently outside the cut?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I think more than anything we were kind of equating it to like if we had an ATP Cup situation, I was like, none of us would be able to play (laughing). But it's maybe the highest that it's been in a really long time and I think even the year that in 2016 when we qualified, the cut was still pretty high, and now it's even higher than that. So I would love to know when the last time it was that high.

Q. There was probably some good U.S. teams --
MADISON KEYS: Like, I'm assuming Capriati, Davenport, the Williams sisters, that was probably Top-10. So, but, yeah, no, I mean, it's happened before, obviously, but you can only control your own results and you can only worry about it so much.

Q. You mentioned ATP Cup. I'm curious there's a couple -- would you like to see a similar thing for the women or the women get involved in one of these new team events that seem to be springing up a lot for the men?
MADISON KEYS: I think it's definitely an interesting concept, I love the idea of having more team events, but like I said, it would be really hard to have it because the U.S. team would be like 18 and then other countries wouldn't like potentially not even be able to play. So there's definitely a lot of variables, but, yeah, I think if certain things got worked out then it's always fun to try to add a team event to the year.

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