OIn 2017, a few hours after her first Grand Salem finals ended, when she was still trying to fail to achieve her ultimate dream, Madison Keys was asked to consider that she was the court. What could I do differently during my time? . He replied with a smile without hesitation: “Win some more games.”
His comments were a fair reflection of the brutal defeat of 6-3, 6-0 at the hands of Sloven Stephens in the US Open final. The Keys had to accept that she failed miserably to handle the pressure. “I’ve been thinking clearly for the past eight years,” Keys said with a smile.
“In my view, during this match, I was nervous and at that moment and opportunity and all of them, I never gave myself a chance to play in reality.”
Even when he took action on such a traumatic defeat, Keys had a good reason to believe that more opportunities would come forward soon. She was only 22 years old and arriving in the final was still an important step. Instead, while he has enjoyed a career that most players could only dream of, so that he failed to cross these heights again for so long. In the middle years, he has gained fame due to failure to handle the stress of the biggest moments.
The next month, 30 -year -old Keys crossed these mental barriers with a brilliant win against IGA Swiatek on Thursday, finally returning to a Grand Slam final for the first time after seven years. There is not such a big difference between the first and the second of any other player who participated in the final two or more Grand Slam.
The journey from Keys Rock Island, Illinois has been particularly attractive. She was a child produced that became one of the youngest women players to win the WTA match at the age of 14 in 2009, winning the WTA match. During his early years, he heard from many people that his destiny was to win the Grand Slam title.
Keys said, “There have been periods of my career when it seemed that if I didn’t win a single, I didn’t do enough, and I couldn’t stay in my ability to all,” Keys said. – “I think that kind of fun was a lot of fun, and even when it felt paralyzed on the court because it felt that I needed to be this instead of giving myself a chance to go out and Possibly. “
This series of success has come from his recent desire to accept such a deeper change in his career. Throughout the off -season, Keys began to find a new racket, which forced him to end his long -standing cooperation with Wilson in favor of Unxis. Now she is coaching by her husband, former ATP No. 99 Bjorn Fratangelo, which helped guide her through her devices and game changes.
“I’m at the last turn of my career,” he said. “It just felt in a way, why not, though I have many more years, ready to adopt and be a little more open to change? I think it is a little free to do so because I think For a long time I felt that I was just as low as I was. Go. ‘ I started to put a lot of pressure on myself.
When she will return to Rad Laver Arena to fight twice as defending champions Arena Sabalinka, Keys will go to court with many reasons for panic with memories of her first Grand Slam Finals experience and the traumatic defeat of three sets. – Belarusi 2023 in the semi -finals of the US Open. But with time, self -awareness and 16 years of experience behind it, Keys has learned to accept the tensions that come with these high opportunities.
“I think the biggest thing for me is to know that there are many moments in the match where I am uncomfortable,” Keys said. “It’s going to be under pressure. You are seeing thousands of people. You may not be playing your best tennis. But instead of taking a edge and living or resting or looking for anything, just fine. This is the situation, and you can play tennis through it. “
