MELBOURNE, Australia — With another insanely daring addition to Melbourne at the end, Madison Keys became a 16-year overnight success.
Struggling to live up to that expectation when she won her first WTA Tour match at the age of 14. The heartache and regret he has endured in the seven years that have passed since his only other appearance in a Grand Slam final.
It all ended in a flurry of crushing groundstrokes by Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion who had been outplaying everyone for the past year. With an inside-out forehead connected to the corner of the court, Keys was free and in one of the biggest tearful hugs — with her husband and coach, Bjorn Fratangelo — the tournament has ever seen.
On a blistering night at Rod Laver Arena, Keys, 29, defeated Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 to win the first Grand Slam title of a career that once looked like it would be hers. Will be.
“I’ve wanted this for a long time,” she said, clutching the silver trophy, a major winner after all.
All these years later, there’s an entire generation of tennis fans who either didn’t live or don’t remember the breathless buzz that was spreading about the girl from the Midwest at Chris Evert’s academy in South Florida in 2008.
“From the age of 10, she had more strength than anyone her age, easy strength,” Everett wrote in a text message Saturday morning. “On a good day, she could beat anyone, but on a bad day she could make a lot of mistakes. Still didn’t understand how to use the power. At age 14, in her first pro tournament. , he beat a top 80 player.
Everett can still see the 114 mph speed she hit. Then, the Keys were coming for tennis. Instead, came for him like tennis. At first the buzz was empowering, but then it became a bit of a panic.
“Am I considered a failure if I don’t?” She said at her news conference that she was in awe of many of those 16 years leading up to the last ball on Saturday night.
There were big moments along the way. She made it to the semifinals of the tournament a decade ago, when she was still a teenager. Two years later she reached the final of the US Open and entered the court as a solid favorite. She was playing against Sylvain Stephens, a childhood friend she grew up with at Everett Academy. The keys were there, but not really. Tough and tentative from the start, he won three games overall and lost the second set 6–0.
Madison Keys’ last Grand Slam final ended in defeat in 2017. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Two years ago, she was twice within a tiebreak of a return to the final in New York. Sabalenka was brave that night, breaking Keys’ heart once again.
Last summer she appeared on her way to the semi-finals of Wimbledon, winning 5-2 in the deciding set against Jasmine Paolini. Then he tore his hamstring. As the years passed and as her 30th birthday approached, she began to face the challenge of being content with a career that could end without a Grand Slam title, something she and every Other players want more than anything else.
“As I got older and closer and it didn’t happen… it was almost a panic,” Keys said.
Fratangelo asked her what she wanted from the rest of her career. Easy answer, of course. But he understood that it was beyond his control. In every Grand Slam there will be seven other players who will have a lot to say about whether a player will win or lose.
Together they came to the mindset that there was something more important. Leaving the court with no regrets after every match, the reward for playing with the kind of grit and conviction that puts one to sleep at night no matter what the scoreboard shows.
Earlier in the week, Fratangelo explained how he landed on his approach to the game. For years, he and other coaches had been trying to harness his power, and rein it in with some control. It worked a decade or so ago, but now almost everyone has superpowers. Perhaps the best way to waterfall was to make it even bigger, and if that meant living with some mistakes and some losses, so be it.
“It depends on what kind of purchase he buys into it,” he said. “He did, and now it looks amazing.”
Go deeper.
Madison Keys won the Australian Open on her own terms.
When Keys considered not waiting any longer, she knew she had to go through all the trouble to understand what it meant and what it didn’t. What ended up with the final began in Florida, at Everett’s academy, but Keys had to go through it to realize it. She entered therapy, she said. In Melbourne, she beat three of the best in the world.
Here’s what his scoreboard is showing:
Quarterfinal against Elena Rybakina, world no.7. It was midway through the third set when Keys saved several break points in her second game. Keys blew up and knocked off the 2022 Wimbledon champion.
The semifinal against No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion and the best female player of the past three years, was even closer. Down 8-7 in the deciding tiebreak, with a match point down in normal time, Keys hit a single and an unreturnable serve before taking one last big swing to claim his match point. Switek could not return to the court with .
“After that match, I told myself that I can really win on Saturday,” he said.
And then the final against Sabalenka, everyone’s favorite all tournament. Keys played the first set from the moon, blasting serves and groundstrokes to overwhelm her opponent. Sabalenka, who struggled in her big matches last year, recovered to hold the momentum and win the second.
After a third set without a quarter, Keys was a game away from the trophy in which Sabalenka tried to extend the match to a decisive tiebreak. Before the final, Keys praised Sabalenka’s ability to lean into the tennis she wanted to play in the biggest moments. Facing him on the other side of the net, Keyes leaned in like she had never done before.
Madison Keys stood toe-to-toe with Arina Sabalenka at Rod Laver Arena. (Vincent Thien/Associated Press)
Every serve that comes her way she hits back. He remembered a long time; He barely put his strings on another. But all the others sent Sabalenka reeling, especially the last one that landed an inch off the baseline. Keys took control of the point, waiting for that last forehand to land before Sabalenka got past her.
When it was over, Keys had knocked off three top 10 seeds in a row. He had beaten three of the four best players in the previous two years and had beaten two of the best players in the world in consecutive matches.
“Bear with me, I’m absolutely going to cry,” she said to a packed stadium of about 14,000 fans.
16 years later, the overnight sensation was ready to succeed him.
(Top photo: Vincent Thien/Associated Press)
