From teenage prodigy to tour stalwart plagued by “serious” injuries, Madison Keys’ road to Grand Slam glory was a long and complicated one.
The newly crowned Australian Open champion broke through on the WTA Tour at the age of just 14 and was immediately tipped to be a future major winner.
Now, a few weeks before her 30th birthday, the American has finally achieved her goal.
Keys ended her impressive run at Melbourne Park with a shock victory over two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final.
“From a young age, I felt that if I never won a Grand Slam, I wouldn’t be what people thought I should be,” Keys said.
“It was quite a heavy burden to carry.”
Keys’ path to the title in Melbourne was not easy.
In April 2009, at the age of 14 years and 48 days, she became the youngest player since Martina Hingis in 1994 to win a match at Tour level.
Six years later, she reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and then went one step further at the 2017 US Open.
But Keys froze in her first major final. She won just three matches against Sloane Stephens in a match she had thought about “endlessly for the last eight years”.
Although Keys has since reached five other major semi-finals, she has struggled with injury issues and has dropped out of the top 50 in the world in 2022
“I had to go through some tough things,” said Keys, who is now ranked seventh in the world.
“It forced me to look at myself in the mirror and try to work on the internal tension I was putting on myself.
“I finally got to a point where I was proud of myself and my career, Grand Slam or not.
“I feel like letting go of those kinds of internal conversations gave me the opportunity to go out and play some really good tennis.”
