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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 10, 2020

Madison Keys

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

M. KEYS/D. Collins

6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

Q. Very strong performance today. What do you make of that? What's your mood on the match?
MADISON KEYS: I think I played pretty well. I think, I don't think Danielle played her best tennis today, but I think I did a really good job taking care of my side of the net and just trying to defend over off of some of her really great shots coming in pretty hard. So served well, returned fairly well, especially in the second set. So I think overall it was just a pretty solid match.

Q. Seemed like it was very, like still obviously power hitting, but very measured in kind of the hitting that you were doing today, not taking too much risk down the line. Was that just kind of the tactic for the day or was it a different mentality?
MADISON KEYS: It's more, it's just hard to change line off of Danielle's ball. It comes in pretty flat and pretty fast, so it's a pretty high-risk shot, and I'm apparently trying not to do so much of that lately. So I was really just trying to set up the point and just make sure that when I was changing line it was on the right ball.

Q. Is it at all intimidating to come into a match against a player who is dropped three games in two matches against good opponents like she had? Does that at all, do you have to put that out of your mind? Are you a little bit more on alert than you would otherwise?
MADISON KEYS: I don't know if you put it out of your mind, because she's obviously playing really good tennis, so you're aware of that. I think if anything, you just know that when you step on court, you have to be ready to go. And if you're not, and she starts going and rolling, then she's just going to get more confident and start playing even better.

Q. Starting, especially important today, I guess?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, a hundred percent.

Q. I think it's the first time for you in a final in the first event of the season since 2014 in Sydney. So were you expecting to be this strong, this ready, at the start of the season?
MADISON KEYS: It's good. It's obviously better than losing the first tournament of the year. Happy to get a lot of matches in and feel like a lot of what I was working on during off-season is kind of immediately clicking. There's still some things that I want to do a little bit better, but it's definitely a great starting point for the year.

Q. Has it changed your expectation for Melbourne?
MADISON KEYS: No, it's the same. I think I came into this tournament wanting to really work on what we have been doing in off-season and trying to put that into matches more and more, so it's the same expectations.

Q. This is the last month on tour for Caroline Wozniacki. I'm curious if you have any memories to share of her moments, because you guys have been on tour for quite awhile.
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, we have been on tour for awhile together. And I think, honestly, the biggest thing is our love of candy. Like I feel like she might love it more than me, but I'm a close second. So to not have that person in the locker room anymore is going to be a little tough (laughing).

Q. Does she like bring a stash with her or how does that work?
MADISON KEYS: I think, I swear one time we had like a 45-minute conversation about candy and, like, what our favorite one was and, like, the textures of it and everything, and it was pretty full on. So the fact that someone understood me and appreciated me in that moment was really special. So to not have that anymore will be tough. But she's just a fun person to have around and she's always nice to see in the locker room and, yeah, it will be sad.

Q. Any particularly good memories you take from her on-court legacy that she leaves behind, whether against you personally or other things you've seen from her?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, I think we only played twice, I think. But I mean, she's obviously had a really great career. I'm really happy that she's able to get a Grand Slam after having so many years at No. 1. I will always remember when her hair got wrapped around her racket at the U.S. Open (laughing).

Q. Speaking of players, I'm just curious because she's had a very good week here, she's on court right now, but just on Jen Brady, not a lot of fans know very much about her, but from what I can tell she's quite beloved amongst all y'all. Can you give us the pitch on Jen Brady?
MADISON KEYS: I have known Jenny Brady since we were nine, I think, eight or nine, even. We trained together at Evert and then she went to school and then she was just, luckily she came on tour, because she's like the funniest person in the world. So I love Jenny. She's definitely come out of her shell versus when we were eight. I tried to get her to talk to me when we were really young and she just refused for the longest time. No, I love Jenny. She's so sweet, so funny. If you're having a bad day you just walk up to Jenny and give her a hug and she will make you laugh. So I'm really, really happy that she's having such a great year -- week -- here.

Q. Great year so far.
MADISON KEYS: Week, year, yeah, great year. It's January, but, great year (laughing).

Q. But so looking ahead to either Jen or Petra, can you just talk about the challenges of playing two players who hit a big ball just like do you?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, Jenny and I -- I think Jenny and I actually have very similar strengths and weaknesses, so it's a little bit like playing yourself. Good serve, likes to look for forehands. And I mean, she's obviously doing it really well. I think she played really, really well the last two matches that I've seen. So that's always a tough matchup when your strengths are their strengths.

And then Petra is Petra. Great serve, great forehand. It seems like every year she comes out and she's gotten something else in her game a little bit better and it just makes her even tougher to play.

Q. Have you been following at all the air quality issues they're having in Melbourne heading into the Australian Open?
MADISON KEYS: I haven't heard a ton of it. I know that it's kind of a daily thing, where it depends on which way the wind is blowing. I've been told that they're going to have the air quality monitors on the court to make sure that everyone is healthy and playing in the right conditions, and I mean, fingers crossed, we get lots of rain and hopefully they can get the fires under control.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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