Australian Open: Madison Keys – Teenage prodigy to Grand Slam champ at 29 – INA NEWS

Madison Keys arrived in Australia below the radar and with the modest purpose of seeing how nicely she may carry out together with her thirtieth birthday looming subsequent month.

The resilient American now has the reply after defeating two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in three units in Saturday’s Australian Open last.

It’s Keys’s first main title, having reached a second Grand Slam last eight years after her first in New York. She misplaced on that event to Sloane Stephens.

That 6-3, 6-0 loss has rankled ever since, however it was additionally a studying expertise.

“I feel throughout that match I used to be so consumed with being nervous and the second and the chance and all of that, that I by no means actually gave myself an opportunity to really play,” she mentioned this week.

“I feel the large factor for me has simply been realizing that there are going to be lots of moments the place I’m uncomfortable within the match.

“It’s going to be nerve-racking. You may have 1000’s of individuals watching you.”

Now ranked 14, Keys will return to the highest 10 for the primary time since 2019 subsequent week.

She made her first semifinal at Melbourne Park in 2015 as a prodigious 19-year-old to showcase her potential.

A decade on, she defeated world quantity two Iga Swiatek within the final 4 this time to arrange a showdown with world primary Sabalenka.

The Belarusian had been trying to grow to be the primary lady to win three Melbourne crowns in a row since Martina Hingis from 1997-1999.

However Keys, the nineteenth seed and underdog, made a nonsense of all that to clinch the title 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in an absorbing last.

Keys ended her season early in October final yr and married her coach, Bjorn Fratangelo, a month later.

The 2 gamers had been courting since 2017 and Fratangelo grew to become her coach in 2023.

Fratangelo instructed reporters on the eve of the ultimate that he felt Keys’s finest was but to come back.

“I feel she’s nowhere close to her full potential,” mentioned Fratangelo, a fellow American who received the boys’ singles on the 2011 French Open.

“Sharpening the axe can get you to date, however typically you simply want new instruments. I feel that’s what I’ve tried to carry to the desk.”

Sabalenka and Keys each boast an influence recreation that may overwhelm opponents.

After shedding the semifinal, Swiatek talked about Keys’s “bravery” in going for large pictures at massive moments.

Fratangelo described Sabalenka on the eve of the ultimate as “a little bit extra of the polished model of Madison”.

“However what I’ve seen from her now could be simply what the greats do,” he mentioned of Keys.

“They’ve the power to lift the extent when it issues most.”

And so it proved on Saturday as Keys clinched the tenth title of her profession, and largest, for an early thirtieth birthday current.

Keys did it the arduous manner, beating former Melbourne finalists Danielle Collins and Elena Rybakina on the best way.

She then got here from a set down and saved a match level towards world quantity two Swiatek within the semifinals.