Madison Keys put her name into the history books after she became a Grand Slam champion at the Australian Open.
Keys made history after beating Aryna Sabalenka, following up from her semi-final win over Iga Swiatek where she saved a match point.
Following the conclusion of the Australian Open final, Sabalenka suggested that Keys hits harder than Serena Williams.
This Grand Slam win has been part of a spectacular January for the American, with Keys also winning the Adelaide International.
After winning the Australian Open title, the 29-year-old has already started to see changes after Keys was banned from playing a tournament.
Despite winning her first Grand Slam title, Keys was beginning to think that it would never happen.
Madison Keys explains her thoughts after losing the 2023 US Open semi-final
Prior to winning the Australian Open, Keys had been close to winning a Grand Slam title, but had never been able to cross the line.
Alongside losing the US Open final to Sloane Stephens in 2017, Keys had a recent meeting with Sabalenka that also did not go her way.
In the 2023 US Open semi-finals, Keys led by a set and was up a break in both the second and third sets.
However, Sabalenka was able to fightback and won the match in a deciding set tie-break.
When speaking on Good Morning America following her Australian Open win, Keys referenced this match and suggested that she was not sure whether her major title win would ever come.
“You know, I had obviously made some some Grand Slam semi-finals, a Grand Slam final years ago and it kind of just felt like the opportunity slipped through my fingers a little bit,” explained Keys.
“And then I felt like I was so close a few years ago and had just a heartbreaker of a match and it was kind of in that moment where you have a lot of doubt and you think ‘Am I ever going to be able to get back to a Grand Slam final?’ I really just started to put my head down and do a work on the court and off the court and yeah here we are now.”
Although she has finally crossed that hurdle, former world number one Jimmy Connors wants Keys to strive for more.
How did Madison Keys deal with big expectations from an early age?
Keys won her first Grand Slam match at 16-years-old and had been hyped for major success from even before that.
This is something that Keys has since admitted affected her, before having therapy to help change her mindset.
“I really got to the point where for a long time people telling me, ‘Oh you are going to win a Grand Slam’ it felt very good, but it was also a confidence builder,” said Keys. “And then I felt like the longer time went where I hadn’t won one I kept kind of starting to think ‘If I don’t win one am I a failure, did I not live up to my potential?’
“And I don’t even think I consciously know that I was doing it but it just kind of just felt like year after year that kind of internal pressure was really building and it finally took going to therapy and getting really honest.
“And I started saying things that I didn’t even know that had become kind of core beliefs of mine and being able to break those down and get to the point where I was really proud of my career and everything that I have done without winning a Grand Slam.
“I think I finally gave myself the freedom to go out and play and play at the level that I knew that I had but I hadn’t been able to do in the past and I just finally got to the point where I said ‘If it happens amazing, but if it doesn’t happen I’ll still be really proud of myself.’”
With Keys now at her joint career-high ranking of world number seven, she is next expected to take to court at the WTA 1000 event in Doha.
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