Australian Open champ Madison Keys trying to stay grounded amidst increased expectations
Keys returns to the tour this week in Indian Wells, her first tournament since winning her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne
Madison Keys, Australian Open 2025
American Madison Keys will play her first match as a Grand Slam champion this week when she begins her campaign at this week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The recently-turned 30-year-old won the Australian Open in January in stirring fashion, beating Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka to etch her name in the Grand Slam history books.
Keys credited new-found perspective on her own career as one of the reasons she was able to get the Grand Slam monkey off her back. The American told the media in Australia that she realised over the course of the last year that she did not need to win a Grand Slam to be proud of her career and that freed her up mentally to play her best tennis.
The American will need to keep that perspective in the forefront as she returns to the court with the increased spotlight and expectations that comes with being a Grand Slam champion.
“I think coming into this tournament, I would be lying if I said that I don’t have more expectations after having the start of the year that I do,” Keys told the press in Indian Wells on Tuesday. “But, I think at the same time it’s really important for me and for my team to remember how we got there and what we were doing. And I think kind of going back to that, and staying really grounded in that is going to be really important. I think the balance of being honest with my expectations rising, but also knowing that I don’t think anyone really thrives when you have such a dramatic mind shift so quickly after success. So, I think really just trying to go back to what worked and what we were doing and what we were focusing on and continuing to try to keep that mindset.”
I have now spent over half of my life on this tour. So I don’t really take offense to it when somebody calls me a veteran.
At 30, Keys is playing her 16th year on the pro tour and is now counted among the veterans on the tour. But she takes no offence as being called one.
“I started when I was really young obviously on tour. I have now spent over half of my life on this tour. So I don’t really take offense to it when somebody calls me a veteran,” Keys said. “I’m starting my 16th year on tour, and obviously it’s a little bit different when you start so young because you’re not fully on tour yet. You can’t play a full schedule yet. But I think it’s just more so just because you’ve been around for a long time, so people have been talking about me in the pro space for a really long time.”
“I think there’s a maturity that happens when you’re on the tour as young as we were and we’ve been around this for so long. So I think it kind of just, there’s a level of maturity that happens when you start so young. I think people kind of forget how young you still are just because they’ve seen you for a really long time (smiling). You just kind of become a very common name on the tour.”
