AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2025

Madison Keys

Press Conference

M. KEYS/E. Rybakina

6-3, 1-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Maddie, welcome to the quarterfinals. Your thoughts on your performance today.

MADISON KEYS: Overall pretty happy with how I played. I think obviously pretty good first set, and I think I finished the third set really well. There are some things that I can take and learn from the middle of the match, but overall, really happy with how I was able to finish and close out that match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What are you doing when things are sort of going off the rails in the second set? How do you get back on track?

MADISON KEYS: I think I did a good job at kind of reminding myself that I'd already won the first set, and I had time. So I didn't have to panic, and it's not like the match was going to be over if I lost the second set.

Really just kind of trying to figure out what was going wrong and what I wasn't doing quite as well in the first set and really just take the time to reset and try to start the third set on a good note.

Q. Do you feel right now that you are playing more on instinct when you're playing in these matches? Or is there still kind of a lot, just with all of the changes, tactical and all that stuff, that is still kind of on your mind?

MADISON KEYS: I think I've actually been -- and it's going to sound crazy, but I think I have actually been working on trying to play a little bit more aggressive. I found that in the second set I got a little bit nervous, and I felt like I got a little bit passive. I felt like I just kind of kept giving her opportunities to start attacking me instead of me being the one that was kind of dictating the point.

So we have really been working on actually taking a little bit more chances and trying to go a little bit more aggressive and bigger from the start.

I think for me, weirdly, my instinct is to kind of back up and try to play safe, but it doesn't usually get me very far. Today I think I was thinking a lot, especially in the last bit of the third set, and really making the conscious decision to try to be a little bit more aggressive and try to take the initiative more.

Q. I know it's completely different surfaces and you can't really compare grass and hard court, but in terms of physically, confidence and where you think your level of play is, can you compare how you think you're playing now compared with at Wimbledon before you got hurt and you were on a good roll?

MADISON KEYS: I don't know if I could compare. I think I was obviously playing some really good tennis there. And as heartbreaking even that match against Paolini was, I felt like I was fighting so hard, and I was doing such a good job to just stay competitive.

I think this last few matches I have done a pretty good job at staying pretty clear-headed out there, no matter what the scoreline was. I think maybe on the grass it was a little bit more instinctual and just kind of running with some momentum versus I feel like right now I'm playing with probably a little bit more thought.

Q. Tennis being such an individual sport, how do you find it if you're up against a player who you have a very good or very bad head-to-head record going into? Does that change how you approach a match, or do you generally just focus on yourself and, you know, if you are playing someone who you have struggled against before, just trust that things will change? Have you done anything different specifically in that kind of situation?

MADISON KEYS: I mean, I think if you're up in the head to-head, you kind of go in thinking, I'm just going to try to do what I normally do.

I think if you're down, you're going to try to do a lot of different things, just so that you have a different outcome.

But I think sometimes it comes down to where have you played them, what the conditions were like, do they favor them, do they favor me. I think those are kind of the ones where if you're pretty close head-to-head, you're not thinking about it as much, but, I mean, if you have never beaten someone, I would suggest that you probably try something different (smiling).

Q. About turning it around after the second set, what do you think was the turning point in the match in the third set?

MADISON KEYS: Obviously I got up a break early in the third set and wasn't able to kind of hang on to that, but I felt like at 3-All I made a pretty conscious decision to, you know, really try to take advantage of anything that I got as early as I could in the point.

I felt like from that moment on I really was able to just kind of dictate and run away with the last set.

Q. This racquet switch story of yours, can you explain to people who might not be as finely-tuned as tennis players as you would be as a pro, what actually feels different about hitting the ball with your new racquet compared to older ones?

MADISON KEYS: I was just looking for a little bit of, I guess, safer, easier power. I mean, I love my racquet for a really long time obviously because I stuck with it for so long, but I felt like it was just getting a little bit difficult to play with on bad days, where it just wasn't really helping me enough, and I was searching for more help and an ability to, the days where you're not feeling it 100%, be able to kind of figure things out and still be able to make the ball.

I'm not super on it when it comes to equipment and things like that. I'm more I pick things up, I tell you if I like them or hate them. That's kind of it.

So to be totally honest, I have no idea why I like this racquet, what it does, like, all the specifics of it. I just knew when I picked it up, it felt really good, and that was the winner.

Q. When you say "help," does that mean a bigger sweet spot basically?

MADISON KEYS: I guess bigger sweet spot, but I think part of it is easier to maneuver if the ball is coming in fast or just kind of an ability to use your hand later in the swing and kind of make up for some things if you're not hitting it perfectly.

Q. Is it lighter?

MADISON KEYS: Is it lighter? I genuinely have no idea, like not even a clue.

Q. With everything that you were saying the other day about how you were feeling like you were getting older and everybody was getting younger and it was getting harder to compete the way you wanted to do so, X, Y, Z changes, with the result like this, with the way that you played from Adelaide through here, what do these results, this sustained level for two-and-a-half weeks kind of mean at the start of the season for you?

MADISON KEYS: I think it always feels really good, and I think it really kind of shows that everything you were working on offseason paid off.

But, I mean, it feels great. I don't know if when I started I thought I'd be almost 30 and still playing at the level that I'm playing and arguably playing maybe even better than I have ever really played.

It's something that I'm definitely not taking for granted and kind of just trying to roll with, and you know, just show some of these young ones that they've got many, many, many years left.

Q. When did you start to feel like you didn't have to think about your leg anymore? Maybe you still have to think about your leg a little bit, because I saw the strapping, but in terms of the injury that you suffered, I know it's been a process getting through it.

MADISON KEYS: I mean, it's just one of those things that I didn't really have to worry about it. We rehabbed it. We have rehabbed it last year. It's kind of part of the warmup now.

You know, I think it's just one of those things that it will probably come and go at a lower degree. But I'm not overly -- I'm not concerned about it or thinking about it.

Q. I know you're not, but when last year, like in between Wimbledon and now, did you start to feel like it's close to 100% or it's where it's going to be?

MADISON KEYS: Probably pre-China.

Q. Looking ahead, facing Elina next, you have faced each other multiple times at the majors. They always seem to be big matches when you face off. What do you make of the matchup and the challenge of playing her? She's probably playing differently now than she was against you back in, you know, '16, '17, '18.

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I watched her match against Jasmine the other day, and I was almost surprised just because I was, like, wow, okay, she's really going for it.

I mean, I think it's kind of the evolution of all of us as we're getting older and trying to make some changes, and if you're not having the success, then maybe you should adapt.

I mean, honestly, I was so impressed. She was really going for it and really going after her shots and hitting some incredible forehands.

I definitely think it's not going to be, like, the typical matchup that we have had in the past. I'm definitely going to have to go watch some of her, because it was not vintage Svitolina playing. Yeah, I feel like we have had some really good battles, and it's gone back and forth. So I'm looking forward to it.

Q. You first made your semifinal here ten years ago and potentially on the cusp of making it again. What do you put down to that longevity of your career?

MADISON KEYS: I don't know, to be honest with you. I think I have had great years and tough years, but for the most part, I think I have had pretty consistent years. I think it's really just been about trying to have fun and just surrounding myself with really good people and enjoying my time on the road.

I think it's hard to basically live in a hotel all of the time, and I think that's almost the hardest part of the sport, along with having to go out and compete every single day.

So I think just trying to have some sort of routine everywhere to make it feel a little bit homier and have something to come back to while you're never home, I think, has probably been the thing that I have been able to do fairly well.

Q. The racquet switch again, how much did it take persuading for you to try something new at this stage of your career?

MADISON KEYS: I was open to trying anything. I tried a bunch of different racquets, and like I said, honestly, I had, I don't know, eight different racquets and hit with them for five minutes and said, yes, no.

Ended up with, I think, three at the end of it and kind of played around for a week and was pretty set on the one that I am currently using. Everything else was just kind of I'll play with it to not fall in love too quickly. But I didn't need a whole lot of persuasion.