Madison Keys has made a change that has paid off in a great way to start 2025 which has left Martina Navratilova very impressed.
The 30–year-old is on an 11-match win streak and Keys is now preparing for the chance to win her first Grand Slam when she takes on defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open final.
The American is enjoying a great run of form and she will be feeling confident about her chances of success against the World number one.
Keys has always been a very talented and dangerous player, but things seem different at the start of 2025, as the World number 19 made some vital changes in the offseason.
Martina Navratilova says Madison Keys made a change just like Serena Williams once did
The biggest change Madison Keys made in the offseason was to change her tennis racket.
Once of Wilson, she now uses a Yonex racket and it has helped her to gain more control on her shots, which she hits with effortless power.
It is certainly paying off as she has reached her second final of the season and her first Australian Open final after beating Iga Swiatek.
Martina Navratilova welcomes this change and says Serena Williams once did something similar during her illustrious career.
“We always worry about Maddie just going for too much and not controlling her shot. This new racket, I think it’s similar to when Serena changed to all nylon,” the 18-time Grand Slam champion told the Tennis Channel Live podcast.
“Her game changed completely because now she could put more spin on the ball and still hit it hard. It takes nerves out and gives you much more control and I think Madison is showing that right now.
“Match-up wise I think Sabalenka has a slightly better backhand, but Madison certainly has a better forehand. Serving wise? Who knows. Less pressure for Maddie. But that extra control has given her a lot of confidence and you see that right now.”
Madison Keys comments on the changes made to her game
Not only has Keys changed her racket, but she also made some alterations to her serve.
She changed the service motion to protect her body from injury while also maintaining its speed and accuracy, which has worked very well to start the season.
Excluding her Australian Open semi-final against Swiatek where she won 64% of her first serve points, Keys won more than 70% of points behind her first delivery in all her other matches at Melbourne Park this year.
Keys admitted she was previously resistant to changing aspects of her game, but with the help of her husband and coach Bjorn Fratangelo, she made the change and it is working well for her.
“I was literally the same for so long that the thought of any change was pretty scary for me,” she said earlier in the Australian Open. “I just didn’t want to do it because I felt like I was always so close to figuring it out that I would just figure it out.
“My body slowly started to fall apart a little bit with [my old serve], so that was kind of the final nail in the coffin where I had to actually make a change. It took a while for me to be OK to serve at 62% or 58%.
“That was kind of the hard thing for me — just getting to the point of going for it more and getting more free points is actually better than making every single first serve.
“Stats definitely helped me there, and it kind of took me out of how I was feeling and put me into a little bit more of a reality.”
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