MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 2, 2024

Madison Keys

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/M. Keys

6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Great tournament. What do you take from this time in Madrid?

MADISON KEYS: Obviously disappointed with how it ended today, but a lot of really great things to take from the tournament.

It's been a while since I have won four matches in a row. Lots to build on. It's obviously great momentum going into Rome next week.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Today, very difficult, Iga, but at least you are better of your shoulder, let's say? Because the rest of the year...

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, no, it's great. It's obviously only my fourth tournament back after the shoulder injury, so to do so well here and to be able to play some tough matches and have some three-set matches and be physically 100% still and being able to look forward to Rome and hopefully play some good tennis there is a huge positive.

Q. From an outside point of view, we don't realize what it is to play against Iga. Can you say to us a little bit about how hard it is to play against her?

MADISON KEYS: I think she's very difficult because the ball comes back over the net so quickly. Maybe not with as much power as some of the other players have, but she does such a great job at taking the ball early and it comes back so quickly that you start feeling rushed.

She obviously moves very well, so I feel like she does a really great job at making you feel like you have to start hitting these incredible shots from all over the court. She puts you in a bad position to where you start going for things that you shouldn't.

Q. This semifinal is the first in Masters 1000 clay from Rome 2016. What's your goal for the next tournament and for Roland Garros?

MADISON KEYS: Obviously the goal is to win as many matches as possible. I think my overall goal has really been to just get out on the court and find a way to compete really well every single match, whether I'm playing well or not, but being able to constantly keep myself in matches and stay close.

I think this week kind of proved a lot where even when I wasn't playing amazing I was able to stay really tough and be really competitive and be able to sneak out some sets and some matches that I wasn't playing the best tennis on the court.

Q. The other day we saw Montgomery, 19 years old. And then Sofia Kenin. They always say after Serena and Venus, no more USA tennis. But you always bring new people and you're still there or the youngsters are coming very strong?

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, no, there is a great group of younger women that are coming up. I think we saw that with Robin, and Emma is obviously also doing really well right now.

I mean, I train in Orlando at the USTA and there is a lot of some of the younger girls that are playing some really great tennis. I'm not worried about that.

Q. Why do you think she is such a good frontrunner? She seems to be able to win, even when the games are tight, the scores can look quite emphatic. She does that a lot. What is it about her game that allows her to do that?

MADISON KEYS: I think she doesn't seem like she's ever really going for that much, but I was also really impressed today with her depth and her shot placement. I mean, every single ball was basically an inch from the line, and you can't really ever gain any court when that's the ball that's coming at you.

So I feel like she makes her opponents start going for a little bit too much in trying to do things that they don't really have the ball for.

I think, you know, you win a point or two, and you have to work so hard to do that or you have to play such a great point to win the point that it's hard to consistently do that when every ball that's coming back at you is, you know, it's coming quick, it's coming deep, it's coming with good margin.

It seems like she's not really taking a ton of risk and she's basically baiting her opponents into taking more and more risk.

Q. The four wins, you said that it's been a while since you have been able to rack those in a row. Physically were you surprised at all with how well you were able to recover from match to match, given how tough some of those matches were? Or are you, like, yeah, I need a few days before getting on the court in Rome?

MADISON KEYS: No, I feel good. We've put in a lot of work. My physio, Kayla, has been absolutely amazing. We have put lots of hours into the gym trying to just work on some of the things that were unstable, not strong enough, things like that.

We have done a lot of work, so it's really great to see that all that work is paying off, and I'm ready to go for Rome.

Q. In general, over your career, what has it been like building a team and deciding the people who should be around you to help you on your journey? And at what point you realized in your career it wasn't just you and a coach, you need more people as a top pro tennis player?

MADISON KEYS: It's obviously hard, and I think it's constantly trying to find the balance of when you focus on bringing someone more for fitness on the road or when it's more physio, and obviously the older I've gotten, the more the physio has been more and more important as far as on the road and being able to maintain.

I think probably the last few years of my career it's been really up and down just because there is not a ton of windows to really build. You know, I feel like it's constantly trying to maintain.

Unfortunately I was trying to maintain with something that was already a little bit broken. So in a lot of ways, having that time of missing the beginning of the year was really great, because it was the first time I've had in a while where we could really kind of rebuild and create a stronger base to then try to maintain on the road.