AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2025

Madison Keys

Press Conference

M. KEYS/I. Swiatek

5-7, 6-1, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Maddie, congratulations. Into the Australian Open final. Talk about your emotions after that match, especially that tiebreak.

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I think I'm still trying to come down and figure out where I am (smiling).

But really proud of myself for being able to stay in that. Obviously being up in the third and feeling like I was so close to the finish line, losing my serve, and then being able to just kind of stay as close as I could in that tiebreaker until the end, just really proud of myself for that match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I don't want to bring your mind back to a sad moment, but I remember when you lost your semifinal to Aryna.

MADISON KEYS: Thank you (smiling).

Q. I imagine it couldn't be any more different in terms of the feeling right now. I just wondered, between then and now, did you ever doubt this sort of moment might come?

MADISON KEYS: I would be lying if I said that there wasn't doubts. I think that felt like such a huge moment. I felt like I was so close. To be that close and to lose it was just so heartbreaking.

I felt like I'd really left it all out there. That's really all you can ask. But at the end of the day, it's still such a tough one to have to go home on.

So that one took a little while to kind of heal from and get past, but I think at the same time I just kept telling myself that if I just keep putting in the work and doing my best and leaving it all out there, that's the only thing that I can do and that's the only thing that I can control.

Typically those are the things that good things tend to happen from that. So really just trying to do what I can control, try to get out and compete and play as many matches as I could, and then really try to run with the momentum.

Yeah, obviously two very different days from then and now.

Q. (No microphone.)

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I mean, I think today feels so great. I think kind of the way the match happened where it was such a close one and so hard-fought, it mirrors it in some ways. So being able to get the win and be on the other side of that feels really, really nice.

Q. You said you were trying to come down. Describe what it's like up where you are currently.

MADISON KEYS: I mean, honestly I just kind of, like, blacked out. I can't really put sentences together totally. It just kind of feels like everything is happening very quickly. I'm just kind of trying to figure out what's going on.

Q. About the conditions, it was a relatively cold, blustery night out. Playing warm and under a roof, how was that helping you feel good out there today?

MADISON KEYS: I guess honestly I kind of forgot that they closed the roof. I forgot that it started open.

But yeah, obviously it's always nice to play when it's a little bit warmer. I typically like to play when I'm a little bit sweatier and there's a little bit more temperature.

I mean, I'd be lying if I said we don't love when there's no wind.

Q. Looking ahead to Saturday, what do you think are the toughest things about playing Aryna? We know about power. Is that the main thing, or are there other aspects that set her apart?

MADISON KEYS: I think what's really impressive is her mentality. I think her ability to kind of always go for it, no matter what the score is, is really impressive.

I mean, she plays such fearless tennis. She has the ability to play so well that way. I think it's very unique. I think a lot of people, no matter what, even if it was a tight point, you kind of expect them to play a little bit more conservative or back down a little bit, and you know she's not going to do that.

I think not only is that impressive on her side, but I think it puts a little bit more pressure on her opponents where you know you're always going to have to try to win the point because she's never going to just play passive and give you an easy point.

Q. Is she a reference point for you being as you play comparable styles?

MADISON KEYS: Definitely. I have always been impressed with how she's been able to do that. The one thing I really wanted to try to be better at was not playing more passive in big points and really, honestly, just trying to emulate the way she trusts her game and the way she goes after it.

I think if you're able to do that and you miss and you lose, but it's on your terms, it's a little bit easier to swallow than if you're kind of playing a little bit passive and things don't go the way that you want them to anyways.

Q. That thing you said on court about not knowing whether you faced a match point, were you really not aware?

MADISON KEYS: I had no idea what the score was.

Q. When it's 4-4, are you just playing points and listening to the stadium announcer or the chair umpire to tell you what the score is? What was it like inside your head during the last 15 minutes in the match?

MADISON KEYS: I think it was really just -- I kind of kept telling myself, Just try to get the next point. Especially at the end of the match, I really was just so focused on what I wanted to try to do. I think it helped me because I was just able to kind of solely focus on that.

Really I just kept saying, like, Just try to get this next point, only focus on this point. Win it or lose it, move on to the next point. Just kept trying to stay as close as I could.

Q. I read some article about you and your husband switching racquet. Can you talk how it happens and how much that new racquet contribute to your play style or change your play style or what make your performance better?

MADISON KEYS: Bjorn and I, we were kind of starting to tinker with some things last year, making some changes. Kind of started with some of the injuries that I was having, just trying to make things a little bit easier on my body and my game.

Made some changes. Things were pretty good, but kind of felt like we could go a little bit further. I have really, like, no idea about racquets and string and all of that. Like, on TV, he's like, Oh, she's playing with this racquet and that. It's like he's insane. I kind of just let him lead the charge and kind of give me options.

Yeah, I mean, we just kind of tried a bunch of different things. I kind of fell in love pretty quickly. I definitely think that I have a level of, I think, trust in things a little bit more with this racquet. I feel like I'm able to kind of go for things a little bit more, but have the ability to be able to control them a little bit more.

I think one of the big things is, especially on the days where I'm not really feeling things, I felt like I have the ability to kind of manipulate things with my racquet and my hands and kind of have a little bit more safety, where I was kind of struggling with that before.

I definitely think it's obviously been a huge benefit for me and has brought a lot more to my game.

Q. I want to take you back to the end of the second set, that lengthy toilet break. Tell me what was going through your mind in that moment. Do you think those rules need to be tightened?

MADISON KEYS: No. I was just asking how much time she had left, because it wasn't up on the board. I was just asking him how much longer it was, her break.

I mean, I think the rules are fine. The clock ran out on my change, but not hers, so I was just asking.

Q. You spoke earlier about trusting your work and trusting that will pay off. At what point in your career did you come to that conclusion? Was there ever a point when you did focus too much on doubts and you were in your head too much?

MADISON KEYS: I think there's been moments in my career when things kind of just felt like they were kind of happening and things were easy, and you just kind of run with that momentum.

I think that's kind of the reality of the sport. It's really hard to just be on a high every single week. I think it's the times when things aren't going your way that it's pretty easy for doubt to kind of creep in.

I think that the big focus for me this off-season was really just kind of buying into I'll try anything, I'll do anything, I'll be open. I'm open to any and all changes. Let's just really go for it.

Obviously I'm at the later point of my career. It just kind of felt like, why not, however many more years I have, be willing to adapt and be a little bit more open to change?

I think doing that is a little bit freeing because I think for a really long time I felt like I was so close doing it a certain way. I kind of just kept falling short. But in my head it was, If I just keep doing it that way, maybe it will happen.

I started putting a lot of pressure on myself within that, and I probably just got a little too rigid not wanting to change because things were good enough for close and all that.

I think just really buying into let's just go for it and be open to change. Doing that, I think I kind of pushed myself to figure out kind of what I actually wanted. I think for a long time I just picked up a racquet and said, This is great, and moved on.

I think there was kind of trying things and actually saying, Do I like them? Do I not like them? It just gave me a better insight on what I actually like and what I wanted to do. I think that kind of built a little bit more self-trust.

Q. What made you willing to change them?

MADISON KEYS: I think it kind of started last year where getting hurt earlier in the year and really kind of thinking, Okay, maybe it's time to start messing with some things.

Then after Wimbledon it kind of was a little bit of a come-to-Jesus moment where the way that I was doing things was putting way too much strange on my body. So I had to do something. I knew it was going to be really uncomfortable. I was really not wanting to do that.

But I think doing it in kind of the two-step way we did it helped a little bit. I think I just finally got to the point where I bought in and became more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Just felt like it had to happen.

Q. Do you feel as though you're playing with house money a little bit just because, like last week you were saying, Oh, I'm 30, I'm ripping up my game, I'm doing all these things differently, I'm willing to take the risks to go all in. Today in the match, even in the tight moments, you were laughing, at times smiling. We didn't normally see that body language for you before in tight moments in the past. Is the mindset more like that, like let's just see how we go as opposed to matches are life and death?

MADISON KEYS: I think that I've been doing a lot of personal work with all of that. I think one of the big things, after I lost to Aryna at the US Open, I felt like I tried to play safe, and I wasn't playing how I wanted to in the big moments. That felt so bad.

I just felt like if I can go out and do what I want to do and really just, again, be uncomfortable at times and just actually go for it and continue to play the way I play my best tennis, and I lose, then I can walk away and say, Okay, I did my best, she beat me, that's fine.

I didn't want to be in the same situation where I kind of looked back at it and thought, Man, I should have gone for it. I didn't want to have any regrets for not really laying it all out there.

So that was kind of just my whole goal today was that no matter what, win or lose, I walked away and said that I did what I wanted to do, I followed the game plan, I went for things when I should have gone for things.

I think that it was a little bit more freeing and I was able to kind of just take in the moment a little bit better and stay a little bit more present instead of getting too wrapped into the emotional turmoil of I should have done this, I should have done that, and just having a lot of regret.

Q. This might be somewhat connected to that. Not to bring up another US Open defeat.

MADISON KEYS: Guys... (smiling).

Q. Back eight years ago against Sloane in New York, how much have you either watched that match, thought about it? Are there ways in which that experience can be a benefit and help you take on Saturday?

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I mean, I've obviously thought of that match endlessly for the past eight years (smiling).

I think during that match, I was so consumed with being nervous and the moment and the opportunity and all of that, that I never really gave myself a chance to actually play.

I think that I've done a lot of work trying to not get rid of nerves because I think in the past in my head it was kind of always the people who play amazing in the tight moments, they either don't have nerves or they figure out how to get rid of them, instead of being able to play tennis with them.

I think the big thing for me has just been knowing that there are going to be a lot of moments where I'm uncomfortable in the match. It's going to be stressful. You have thousands of people watching you. You might not be playing your best tennis.

But instead of trying to shy away from that and search for settling or comfort or anything, just being okay that that's the situation, and you can also play tennis through that, I think is something that I've been working really hard on.

I think that's probably one of the biggest lessons that I can take from that US Open final and just be okay with knowing that I'm probably going to be uncomfortable 99% of the time that I'm on the court, and that's okay, and I can still also play tennis through that.