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Madison Keys: 3 secrets of her Australian Open victory

She beat the best players of the moment to win her first Grand Slam, Madison Keys burst into tennis history and reveals the secrets of her success in Australian Open.

Por: Karla Sofía Espinoza
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Madison Keys' Australian Open win demonstrates her tenacity to overcome adversity/ Photo Ron Keating via Wikimedia

Keys has Keys. Yes, it sounds like a play on words, but to become the new Australian Open champion, Madison Keys had to overcome many obstacles on and off the court.

 

At 29, Keys became the oldest woman to win the Australian Open trophy for the first time in the Open era.

 

The American became champion after defeating world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who was also looking to make history by winning a third consecutive Australian Open, in a tough match.

 

The final score reflected the intensity of the battle on Rod Laver Arena: 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. But first she had to beat the world number 2, Iga Swiatek, in another adrenaline-fuelled match in the semi-finals: 5/7 6/1 7/6.

 

So Madison Keys showed her mental toughness by beating the best tennis players in the WTA ranking. However, it took her years to develop this strength, as she revealed in her statements after her AusOpen victory.

 

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Madison Keys showed her mental toughness by beating the best tennis players

Asking for help

Keys has proven that there is nothing wrong with asking for help. In fact, the tennis player openly talked about how it took her “a lot of therapy” to win her first Grand Slam title.

 

“Getting help, talking to somebody, not just about tennis, but about how I felt about myself. If I hadn’t done that, I don’t think I would be sitting here,” she told reporters.

 

“I’m just really proud of myself. I didn’t always think I could get back to this point,” she admitted.

Confidence in the process

For over a decade, Madison has always been on the verge of the big win that would catapult her to the expectations that have always been placed on her.

 

In 2017, she was on the verge of winning the US Open but ultimately lost to her compatriot Sloane Stephens in the final. The following year, she lost in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows.

 

In 2023, she lost to Sabalenka in the semifinals of the US Open, despite serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set.

She then admitted: “I think it is really possible to take that and turn it into a positive”. Now, her friend Sloane Stephens shares her confidence in Keys’ tenacity on X: “It was never a question of if, just when.”

 

She has also had to deal with countless setbacks due to her injuries, most notably a near-permanent one to her shoulder.

Try something different

Last November, Keys married her current coach Bjorn Fratangelo, who recommended a change of racquet brand, from Wilson to Japanese Yonex, to avoid shoulder problems.

 

Moreover, it wasn’t just the racquet, she also made changes to her serving motion. “If you are going to rip things apart, you might as well rip everything apart, right?” she said to the Bounces website.

 

So with these results, it’s obvious that the changes have paid off.

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Keys made changes to her serving motion / Photos via Wikimedia Commons
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