Australian Open: Madison Keys – Teenage Prodigy to Grand Slam Champ at 29 | Tennis news
Madison Keys won her first Grand Slam by ending Arya Sabalenka’s hopes of a third straight Australian Open title.
Madison Keys arrived in Australia under the radar with the modest goal of seeing how much she could perform with her 30th birthday next month.
Resilient American now has the answer after She beat the two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in Saturday’s Australian Open final.
It is Keys’ first major title, after reaching his second Grand Slam final eight years after his first in New York. She lost to Sloane Stephens on that occasion.
That 6-3, 6-0 loss has since been ranked, but it was also a learning experience.
“I think during that game I was so consumed with being nervous and the moment and the opportunity and all that, that I never really gave myself the opportunity to actually play,” she said this week.
“I think the big thing for me was just knowing that there’s 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.”
Now at 14, Keys will return to the Top 10 for the first time since 2019 next week.
She first made the semi-final at Melbourne Park in 2015 as a towering 19-year-old to show her potential.
For a decade, she defeated world number two IGA Swiatek in the last four this time to set up a showdown with world number one Sabalenko.
The Belarusian attempted to become the first woman to win the Triple Crown in Melbourne since Martina Hingis from 1997-1999.
But Keys, the 19th seed and the underdog, made a fool of it all to win the title 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in an absorbing final.
Keys finished the season at the beginning of October last year, and a month later she married her coach Bjorn Fratangelo.
The two players have been dating since 2017, and Fratangelo became her coach in 2023.
Fratangelo told reporters ahead of the final that he believes Keys’ best is yet to come.
“I don’t think he’s anywhere near his full potential,” said Fratangelo, a fellow American who won the boys’ singles at the 2011 French Open.
“A sharp ax can get you so far, but sometimes you just need new tools. I think that’s what I tried to bring to the table.”
Sabalenka and Keys boast a power game that can overwhelm opponents.
After losing the semifinals, Swiatel spoke of Keys’ “bravery” in big moments.
Fratangelo described Sabalenka ahead of the final as “a slightly more polished version of Madison.”
“But what I saw now is exactly what the greats do,” he said of Keys.
“They have the ability to step up when it matters most.”
And so it proved on Saturday as the Keys won the 10th title of their career, and their biggest, for an early 30th birthday present.
Keys did it the hard way, defeating former Melbourne finalists Danielle Collins and Elena Rybakina along the way.
Then she came from a set down and saved a point in the semi-final for the match against world number two SWIADEK.
