Madison Keys makes telling admission after Australian Open triumph

Madison Keys had been Australian Open champion for less than two hours when she proved exactly why she is someone deserving of the spotlight.

Madison Keys had been an Australia Open champion for less than two hours when she proved exactly why she is someone deserving of the spotlight.

The 29-year-old American, who won her first grand slam on Saturday night 6-3 2-6 7-5 against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, shared the personal struggle she had battled off the court, crediting “lots of therapy” for getting her to where she is now, in an honest and powerful post-match press conference.

“I honestly think that if I had not done that, then I wouldn’t be sitting here,” she said.

Keys made her mark in junior tennis early on, turning pro on her 14th birthday.

Many were convinced she was going to be a star. However, while being told she would win a grand slam from as early as 11 years old started as a positive for confidence-building, the pressure to live up to people’s expectations became crippling.

“From a pretty young age, I felt like if I never won a grand slam, then I wouldn’t have lived up to what people thought I should have been,” she said. “That was a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around.”

Madison Keys celebrates with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup next to former Evonne Goolagong Cawley. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP)

The 29-year-old American won her maiden grand slam title. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

She said the panic set in as she got older and entered the “later stages” of her career.

“It kind of almost felt like it went from being something positive to something that was almost a little bit of a panic of, ‘Why hasn’t it happened yet? Why haven’t I been able to do it?’

“It really started to kind of weigh on me more, where it was, ‘What if I never do it? If I don’t do it, am I considered a failure?’”

Therapy was not new to her, as she had experience with sports psychology with a focus on improving her performance on the court. But it wasn’t until she started “digging in” on how she felt about herself that it changed her life.

“I finally got to the point where I was personally low enough that I was like, I don’t really care if this helps me perform, I just want to feel better,” she said.

“I think doing that, it was kind of that moment where it was like, I don’t really care what I have to do, I just want to feel better. So I think it was kind of the thing that it pushes you to say, ‘OK, well, obviously whatever I’m doing, is not working’.”

Keys told Channel 9 she was determined to swing for the fences and leave it all out there after losing to Sabalenka in the 2023 US Open semi-final.

“Honestly, my only goal was to make sure I played how I wanted to play and not have any regrets because the US Open, I walked off the court and had a lot of regret because any big moments, I felt like I backed off,” Keys said.

“She played the way she wanted to and I was going to absolutely be OK if I played how I wanted to, and she beat me, so if that is how it happened, no problem but that was my only goal.

“I feel like I did that and I kept telling myself, just try to get to the next point. It was really just try to walk off the court no matter what be proud of yourself.”

Sabalenka was heartbroken but put on a brave face and praised Keys. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP)

A notable change, Keys said, was recognising her feelings instead of pushing them away.

“I think for a long time in my head I had this idea that people were able to kind of just ignore their nerves or doubts or anything like that and just kind of tunnel vision play tennis,” she explained.

“In the past, if I ever had nerves come up or something, I typically would not play as well. So it started getting to the point where when nerves came up, I was thinking, ‘Oh, no, now I’m going to play badly’. It would almost kind of start this internal panic.”

Now she has recognised that she can still be nervous and play good tennis.

“I stopped fighting, trying to push away the feelings and pretending that they’re not there and just accepting them and really telling myself that they’re fine and they’re totally normal to be there, and I can still play tennis,” she said.

“I think doing that day in and day out and just kind of accepting that it’s going to be uncomfortable, you’re going to be nervous, there’s going to be thousands of people watching you, but you can still do it, and then starting to actually be able to do that started to give me more confidence.”

Madison Keys poses with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in the locker room. (Photo by Fiona HAMILTON / TENNIS AUSTRALIA / AFP)

Keys said therapy should be talked about as a tool and that will make people more comfortable with seeking the help. And it’s not just professional athletes Keys wants to encourage to seek mental health support.

“I think that everyone should be in therapy,” she said with a smile.

“I think no matter what, no matter what’s going on in your life, you’re going to have moments where things are tough and you need someone to talk to. I think it’s very important.

“It’s something I will continue to do for the rest of my life. I think if more people do it and more people talk about it, then it just kind of becomes the norm. It’s almost as if you’re going to the doctor. No one bats an eye at that. I think it’s just kind of overwhelmingly needed, I think, for most people.”

Keys believes that it was when she was able to become proud of herself with or without a Grand Slam that she was able to play tennis at a quality to actually win a Grand Slam.