US OPEN

August 26, 2024

Madison Keys

Press Conference

M. KEYS/K. Siniakova

6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Strong start to your US Open. Assess your performance today.

MADISON KEYS: I think I started a little nervous, as most do first round of a slam, but overall I think I played really well.

I think especially in the second set, breaking and then getting broken back, I think I did a really good job to kind of quickly get back on track and be able to close out the match pretty cleanly.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. That was your first win since Wimbledon, I believe. It's obviously been a difficult summer. Could you describe, I guess, your summer and what it's been like just getting back to fitness to the point where you could perform at the highest level.

MADISON KEYS: It's been a summer of a lot of time in the gym rehabbing. I tried to play in Toronto, but it was a little too fast. Wasn't quite ready.

I also felt like I took a lot of positives from that match just because I was still playing well, and it wasn't until late in the second set that things kind of went sideways, so I felt like I wasn't that far off.

Being able to give myself a few more weeks just to get back 100% I think was really important. We've just been able to kind of do whatever we can in the six weeks that we've had.

Q. What are those days in the gym like? Is it ever frustrating, I guess, or tedious?

MADISON KEYS: I think that the frustrating thing is that you work so hard to get the level of your fitness and base and all of that there, and then one thing happens, and all of a sudden it just seems like all of it is gone.

It's all of the small little things where you have to -- it's baby steps. I think that's kind of the frustrating part, where you just kind of keep thinking, like a week ago I was fine. Like, I could do anything and everything, and now all of a sudden it's the baby steps of, okay, it's just like basic strength and then you can go onto the court and then you can start pushing the endurance side.

I think it's just a very tedious process.

Q. You've talked before about your affinity for the US Open. What's the energy like being back in New York after a tough summer?

MADISON KEYS: I always love coming back to New York. I have some absolutely amazing experiences here. I think being an American playing in front of an American crowd, there's really no other feel like that.

It's definitely the loudest, rowdiest crowd that you can play in front of. Being in so many scenarios here where they've really pushed me through, I always feel really great coming to the US Open.

Q. The clay season obviously was a very good one for you. Then obviously just a little bit of obviously disappointment at Wimbledon. Did that wipe away kind of how you were feeling about your tennis, about your level, about your physicality before that? Can a tough result or tough injury erase the positives that you were feeling? Are you feeling better than some people might think that you are about everything?

MADISON KEYS: I think I surprise people because I still say that match against Jasmine was -- in my opinion, it was one of the greatest matches that I've ever played, and it was really fun up until the very end.

So I still have a lot of really great memories from coming back -- I mean, through the clay and then obviously I did pretty well in Eastbourne once again and having some really good matches at Wimbledon.

I mean, that atmosphere on Court 1 playing Jasmine was incredible. It was so much fun. Then we were both playing so well, and we were pushing each other. I felt like it was a match where we both kind of had to keep shifting what we were doing because the other one was catching up and changing what they were doing.

So there's great memories, and there's still a ton of positives from it. Obviously it didn't end quite how I wanted it to end, but I think that's the reality of tennis. It's the reality of sports. Sometimes that happens.

You kind of just have to pick up all of the positives from the situation that you can and get back in the gym and keep going. I feel like this year has been like seven years condensed into one.

So it's still a little hard to even remember the clay court season (laughing).

Q. What have been your observations of Coco Gauff's development as a player and a person given how young she was when she joined the tour?

MADISON KEYS: I mean, I think from the start we kind of all knew that Coco was going to be an amazing player, and she's incredibly mature and carries herself in a way that I wish that I carried myself when I was her age.

So it's been I guess not really a surprise just because you could kind of see it from the very start, but I think it's also very impressive how she's been able to continue to -- I mean, through all of the pressure and all of the expectation that's been put on her, continue to do as well as she has.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about kind of how differently I guess -- because listening to you describe the Paolini match I think, like, five, six, seven years ago maybe a result like that you'd be kind of a little bit more shattered by the result itself, but it's a different perspective maybe now when these results happen. Is that specific to this match, or is that a broader thing with you?

MADISON KEYS: That's therapy (smiling).

Q. But in terms of what are -- if you can expand on that.

MADISON KEYS: I think that that's just trying to just not live and die by every result. I know that's really hard. I think it's really hard, especially for tennis players, because every result matters. I mean, we're lying if we say that we don't care. But I think it's really hard when you grow up and the number next to your name means so much.

It becomes really hard to kind of separate yourself from that number and the winning and the losing. I think it's even just when you win, your phone is blowing up. People want to talk to you after the matches and everything. You have to go into press, and then you lose, and it's not the same.

I think it's hard when you grow up that way to not take every loss as this is the end of the world. So it's been a lot of personal growth on my part, but I've been really working on just trying to take the experiences for what they are and not the, you know, earth-shattering disappointment that sometimes I think we kind of all can live in a little bit.

Q. How important then has therapy, I guess, and sports psychology, whatever, been for you and your journey and your career, and how long have you been doing it?

MADISON KEYS: I've tried it on and off for a few years, and I think that's the hard part about therapy is finding someone that fits for you. I think for me personally I've always tried specifically sports psychology.

I think at the time I was always smart enough to pick up on what to say and say the right things and do the right things, but never really fully believed them 100% and never really fully buy into it. It just got to a point where I wanted to be just an overall happier person.

So I started trying to look at it from that point of view, and if I could do that and really buy into it and be really honest and vulnerable, which is not my favorite thing to do with people, that a lot of good could come from it.