THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 4, 2024

Madison Keys

Press Conference

M. KEYS/Wang Y.F.

6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Is this your happy place?

MADISON KEYS: When I win. I think it's everyone's happy place when you win (laughter). It's a hard place to not be happy when you're playing well.

Q. You seem to be winning a good bit here lately. Had a good run last year, and this year so far so good. What do you owe it to, do you think?

MADISON KEYS: I think I've always kind of felt pretty natural on grass and have just always loved playing here. Last year obviously having a quarterfinal run was amazing.

I just think every time you're here it's kind of the pinnacle of tennis, so I think we're all out there playing our hearts out. I've just been lucky enough to get a lot of wins.

Q. This is your tenth Wimbledon. I just want to know are there any differences in terms of playing on the outside courts to the show courts because you won No. 1 Court for your first-round match and Court 12 today. I just wonder if there are any differences playing on the outside courts compared to the show courts?

MADISON KEYS: The show courts are definitely a lot more quiet. There's still champagne corks popping, though, so that's happening everywhere.

But I think the courts, I mean, typically the show courts are playing a little bit different than the outside courts everywhere. But I think the atmosphere is very different when you're on the outside courts versus the show courts.

I think the show courts are, like I said, they're very quiet. Everything just feels more formal. Then when you're out on the outside courts, I mean, there's people walking by, and it's just kind of... There's a lot of energy out there.

Q. Do you have a preference or not really?

MADISON KEYS: I don't really have a preference. I mean, I think it's really fun to play. I don't think there's many other tournaments outside of like the grass swing where you're so close to people.

So it's definitely a very different situation, but I've always really enjoyed it.

Q. Should they allow a bit more noise? Here is so different from the US Open. What is your preference? How do you think it should be?

MADISON KEYS: I definitely think Arthur Ashe is one of the loudest places in the world sometimes, so it gets a little bit tough just because I think there's a level of noise where you can't actually hear the ball anymore. I think that actually gets really difficult to play.

But in my opinion I think it's way worse when there's no noise, and then there's noise, versus if there's a little bit of a buzz all of the time, it doesn't really bug me.

Q. Would it be all right with you if we do a kind of two-minute drill, and I'll just shoot out a few lightning round questions just for a quick response?

MADISON KEYS: Sure.

Q. Your favorite tournament?

MADISON KEYS: Charleston.

Q. And the toughest stroke from an opponent you've ever faced?

MADISON KEYS: Serena's serve.

Q. Your favorite moment in your career?

MADISON KEYS: Winning my first title.

Q. And if you could get a quality, a mindset, or stroke from any other player, what would that be?

MADISON KEYS: Everything from Serena (laughing).

Q. If you could change one thing in the sport of tennis?

MADISON KEYS: Ban five sets.

Q. And the best part of tennis?

MADISON KEYS: I think the best part of tennis is that you always have another opportunity the next week, no matter what. And I think it's so fun to watch. I think just being able to be a tennis fan and just kind of see how one week can completely change someone's, I mean, life or year or whatever, I think it's one of the best parts about tennis.

Q. And the not-so-best part of our sport?

MADISON KEYS: The three-week offseason.

Q. And, finally, you can go to one restaurant in the world, what would that be?

MADISON KEYS: Taverna Trilussa in Rome.

Q. Last thing. If you can invite three people to that restaurant for a great dinner outside your family and support team, who would that be?

MADISON KEYS: Jenny Brady, because she's always a good time. Oh, gosh. I don't know. There's too many people. I just want Jenny there. I'll just take Jenny.

Q. Quality rather than quantity, right?

MADISON KEYS: Yeah (laughing).

Q. What does it mean to you to play on the 4th of July, and what does the holiday mean to you when you're here?

MADISON KEYS: Unfortunately, it doesn't mean a whole lot when you're here. I've always really loved playing during the 4th of July. It's happened quite often. I think I've spent more 4th of Julys in London than anywhere else in the world.

So it's always fun, and it's definitely an experience. Like today walking by I saw a bunch of Americans, and they all said happy 4th. It's always fun to see everyone out and about the grounds.

Q. Is it sad in some ways that you're not in the States or uplifting that you're here and see people who share your views of the country and support you?

MADISON KEYS: I wouldn't say sad because most of our holidays and birthdays are on the road somewhere, so it's kind of just the norm. But it's definitely always really great to see all of the other American fans that are out there cheering. When they have their flags out, we all get to kind of celebrate the 4th of July together.

Q. This is going to sound like a very American question. What from your childhood was the key sort of opportunity that you were given in order to excel in this sport where it's hard to excel because the economic barriers and things like that? When you think back, what was the key moment that kind of welcomed you in?

MADISON KEYS: I was lucky enough to move to Florida when I was 10 to start training full-time. I think it was maybe a year or two after I was at Evert full-time. They gave me a scholarship just because my family wouldn't have been able to afford continuing to pay a full scholarship. So that kind of started everything.

Then I had amazing sponsors from a really young age. At 14 I had Nike and Wilson, who signed me on, and I was able to earn enough money to kind of basically pay for my own career from that point.

It was, honestly, the only reason that I'm sitting here just being able to have those opportunities given to me. I wouldn't have been here had I not had that scholarship and then followed up with the sponsors that I've had.

Q. Before you were 10 years old in terms of getting to the point where you were good enough at 10 to be saying, yeah, I'm going to train full-time...

MADISON KEYS: I mean, I don't think I was good enough at 10 years old to say I was going to train full-time. I played, like, three times a week at our local club. The fact that my parents let a 10-year-old decide that she was going to move the whole family to Florida to play tennis was insane (laughing).

Q. What was the local club?

MADISON KEYS: The Quad City Tennis Club.

Q. We see it a bit on the men's side, underarm serving. Is that something you have ever considered using or ever been done to you?

MADISON KEYS: No, no.

Q. You never would because it's stupid or...

MADISON KEYS: It's not stupid. Well, when it works it's not stupid. When it doesn't work, it doesn't look great.

I just can't fathom that ever being an option that pops into my head. I've never done it. I would probably miss it, which would feel worse.

I've always kind of thought that, like when I was younger, practices were always very serious. And I think it was a lot different just because when I was growing up and when I was on the cusp of becoming a pro, your window of opportunity was much smaller as far as how old you were when you are a female versus the guys. It seemed like they kind of had more time to play with.

I feel like that all of our practices were much more strict and serious, and this is how you do things and traditional. You would look over and see the guys kind of working on the trick shots and the drop shots and all of that. So maybe that's why.

But I've never once stepped up to the line and thought this is going to be the time I hit an underhand serve.

Q. Even now in training you just wouldn't think...

MADISON KEYS: I've attempted it. They're just so bad that no one should see that.

Q. You didn't face any break points. If you could just talk about how you thought you played today because it was I would say a pretty clean match.

MADISON KEYS: I think I played pretty well. I don't think that there was any real spots of the match where I could go back and say, Oh, wow, I really need to work on that. I think a lot of that kind of stemmed from the fact that I served well. I think my kind of serve plus one was really important today, and I felt like I was kind of always on my front foot and being able to dictate.

I felt like that bled into the return games as well, just giving myself a lot of opportunities to put pressure on her service games. A day like today you don't really have a whole lot of things that you're too upset about.