AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2022

Madison Keys

Press Conference

A. BARTY/M. Keys

6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: At the start of the month if somebody had offered you a tournament and semis at the AO, what would you have thought?

MADISON KEYS: I would be pretty happy (smiling). I obviously am disappointed with how it went tonight and obviously would have loved to have been in the finals here, but all in all, after the year I had, I'm pretty happy with my summer in Australia.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Ash said after the match one of the great things is you're back out on the court and playing extremely well. How do you parlay the last month into the rest of the year? What do you look forward to next and what do you take from the summer?

MADISON KEYS: Honestly, I think the biggest thing that I take from the summer is just getting a lot of matches in. It's been a really long time since I have been able to start off the year on such a strong foot and have all of these matches and to have all that confidence going into the year.

I don't think I have ever had that, so that's a great feeling. It's something that's really great to build off of. Just having all of that experience on the court already this year for tough moments down the road is going to be really beneficial.

Q. What is it like to play Ash at the moment? Clearly a player in hot form. What's that experience like?

MADISON KEYS: It's tough. It sucks (smiling). I mean, she's just playing incredibly well. I mean, you have a game plan in your head, but she's just executing everything so well. She's serving incredibly well, so you don't get any free points on that.

Her slice is coming in so much lower and deeper than it was in the past so it's hard to do anything on that. Then you try to play to her forehand and she can open you up there. I think she's playing some really, really good tennis, but she's also, it just seems so locked in and focused. I mean, I have played her a handful of times, and this is easily the best I think she's ever been playing.

Q. You mentioned her slice being better. You obviously played her at Roland Garros the year she won the title. Would you say that's the biggest difference? What is the biggest difference?

MADISON KEYS: I think everything has just improved a little bit. I think she's got a little bit more precise on her serve. I think her forehand she's doing a really good job at mixing up paces and spins, as well. It feels like you can't really get in a rhythm off of that forehand side.

Then on her backhand side, I mean, everything is coming in at your shoelaces on the baseline. So it's not like you can really do anything with that (smiling).

Q. How would you describe what you have learned about yourself over the last weeks and months? You mentioned it puts you in good shape for what's ahead. In what ways both physically and mentally do you see that happening?

MADISON KEYS: I think that the biggest thing that I have learned from this trip is that enjoying myself on a tennis court is absolutely vitally important for me. At the end of the day I have to enjoy what I'm doing, and I have to figure out how to not put all of that pressure on myself so that I can enjoy tennis, because when I can enjoy tennis I'm capable of playing at a much higher level than what was happening last year.

And then I think the biggest thing for the next part of the year is -- I'm going to knock on some wood -- physically I feel really good after playing a lot of matches. Mentally I still am, you know, fighting to get back to the level that I think that I was obviously on the tennis court ranking-wise, but mentally I feel like I'm in a really good position and feeling fresh. I mean, the good news of having a really shitty year before is you don't have many points to defend (smiling).

Q. What was your game plan tonight, and what were you maybe falling short in doing if you had to assess it?

MADISON KEYS: I think the game plan was definitely trying to play a little bit heavier to her slice so that she couldn't pin me in that backhand corner quite as well.

The tough thing, though, is that you have to have so much racquet head speed when her slice is coming in, but then you also have to balance not overhitting it. I felt like I started getting a better feel of it like in the middle of the second set, but then at that point being a set and a break down against World No. 1 is kind of a difficult position to start feeling yourself.

So, I mean, I think I had a game plan. I don't think I executed it very well.

Q. A great tournament for you. A question of when facing Ash, I mean, you have practiced with her, you have seen her. You know what she can do. Was it a matter of just if she does what you expect her to do it's hard to find answers? Or was there an element of surprise in what she came out and tried to do against you? How would you kind of assess that?

MADISON KEYS: I wasn't really surprised by it. I think the tough thing is that I think she kind of makes you overthink a little bit, and you start pressing a little bit, you feel like you have to do too much at times. I think I was overthinking a little bit at the beginning, trying to, you know, do things that weren't really happening for me or really actually an option, just because she kind of puts that pressure on you.

I think I definitely was pressing a little bit and overthinking. That's, like I said, once that happens and I feel like when she starts feeling like she can play downhill, then she just gets that confidence and momentum and it's really hard to get that back from her.

Q. Congrats on a great tournament. Every once in a while a player in tennis comes along, and they kind of maybe separate themselves from the rest a little bit in terms of form, consistency, attitude, everything. Then everyone else, that becomes a benchmark and everyone tries to catch up. Do you think that's the case with Ash at the moment?

MADISON KEYS: I would say yes. I definitely think so. I think she's incredibly -- she seems very focused, but she's playing very within herself, and it just seems like everything is really working for her right now without playing unbelievable tennis for her. I think the rest of us are watching it thinking, wow, this is incredible, but when you watch her, she seems completely in control of all of it.

Q. What's your schedule like coming up?

MADISON KEYS: I'm going to play the 250s in Mexico, and then Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, and then you know the rest.

Q. Tough luck on the outcome, but congrats to you on your steady progress in Australian Open. Last year quarterfinal, this year semifinal. Very well done. We also have heard about your work in bringing parity between men's and women's prize money and your work with Kindness Wins. Where do you see five years or ten years from now the face of women's tennis in terms of reach and popularity? Where do you see that going?

MADISON KEYS: I believe that it will continue to go up. I think we have some really great women kind of carrying the torch right now with Naomi and Coco and Ash, and there's just so many, so many young women right now who are doing incredibly well. I think it's making tennis incredibly popular, especially women's tennis. I think that's going to continue to grow.