AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2025

Madison Keys

Press Conference

M. KEYS/E. Svitolina

3-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Maddie, congratulations. Third semifinal in Melbourne, ten years after the first. How does that feel?

MADISON KEYS: It feels great. I'm really, really proud of myself to be in another semifinal here and kind of hoping and looking forward to see if I can make it one step further.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Maddie, I understand Frances has a bit of a tongue-in-cheek nickname for you, calling you "Mum" in the past in reference to your longevity on the tour. I guess now that you have made semis ten years apart, is it sort of a validation? Are you going to send a text to him? How do you react to that now?

MADISON KEYS: No, I probably won't text him. We have this kind of joke where in the past he wouldn't say anything pre-tournament or anything, and then he would text me, like, in the quarters or the semis or something, and I would lose the next round.

So we have this new rule. Like I saw him a few days ago, and I said, Don't text me, I don't want to hear from you at all, just leave me alone and we'll talk after the tournament (smiling).

Q. On that topic, though, you started this journey really young. You know, your first win at 14, right? How satisfying is it to have kind of enjoyed such a full career, I guess, where you're continuing to improve throughout it?

MADISON KEYS: I mean, it feels great. Starting as young as I did, I don't know if I would have, you know, had the full awareness that I was going to be here 16 years later.

But I think it's a really great era of tennis right now because you can still be playing some of your best tennis as 30 is approaching and even past that.

I mean, even today Elina was playing fantastic tennis. She was another one that I played juniors with her, and we both kind of went pro really early.

There's just so many players now that into their 30s they're playing some really great tennis. I think it's really nice to see all of these people that I played juniors with that we're still out here.

Q. Is that a bit weird actually to know that you have played these people for so long in your life?

MADISON KEYS: I think it's more I think funny when you think about all of the versions of each other that you have played throughout all of the years.

I think when I was playing juniors, there were quite a few of us that actually made it into the pros and are continuing to play.

So I guess it's just funny and also a little bit... I don't know. It's a little bit interesting, I guess, just to be able to see so many different people kind of evolve through so many different points of their career.

Q. Given that there have been ten years that have passed, I just wonder what you can remember about yourself in terms of how you viewed everything ten years ago? Maybe with the experience you've had, if you were able to go back and just give yourself a few words of advice about how to handle it and the future, what would you say?

MADISON KEYS: I think if I could go back, I would just say to try to enjoy it a little bit more and maybe try not to put as much pressure on yourself that it had to be right now. I think there's been a handful of times in my career where it kind of felt like if it didn't happen right now, would it ever happen?

I think I'm, one, getting to the point where I'm starting to appreciate my career for what it has been, and it doesn't have to have a Grand Slam in order for me to look at it and say, I've done a really good job, and I've really left everything out there.

Now, while that's obviously still the goal, there have been periods of my career where it felt like if I didn't win one, then I hadn't done enough, and I didn't live up to my potential in all of that.

I think that kind of took a lot of, I mean, it took a lot of the fun out of the game, and there were times where it felt paralyzing out on the court because it felt so, like it felt as if I needed it to happen instead of giving myself the opportunity to go out and potentially do it.

Q. Similarly, how do you feel like your experience on tour looking back ten years ago can help you in this semifinal coming in a couple of days?

MADISON KEYS: I think now that I've been in this position a few times, I can definitely try to lean in on that.

At this point, I mean, everyone has also won some really great matches, and we're all playing some really good tennis. This is really what they call the business end of the tournament.

So as much as you have experience in all of that, at the end of the day it's also you just have to go out and do your best and leave it all out there.

I think as long as I can do that, no matter what happens, then I can walk away with my head held high.

Q. The different pattern to this match than in the other match, I'm curious sort of the difference between the second set and then the turnaround in the third set the other day versus the way you started today and what got you turned around and on the front foot this afternoon?

MADISON KEYS: I think I just started a little bit... I think I started a little flat today. I think that I was trying to be aggressive and set the point up, but I wasn't necessarily taking advantage of the balls that I was getting in return from that, then allowing her to kind of defend well enough that then she got on offense.

I think in the second set I really just started trying to get to the net a lot more and really kind of take advantage of some of the short balls that I was getting. Just being able to do that, I feel like I kind of ran with the momentum after that.

Q. Was that sort of your own read, or are you talking with your box through that to work that out?

MADISON KEYS: I mean, I think it's probably a little bit of both.

Q. Your serve is obviously a big part of your game. I noticed that when you win the coin toss, you often choose to receive. What's your thought process behind that, in general?

MADISON KEYS: I think sometimes I like to receive just because I think coming out and serving first sometimes, sometimes there's some nerves. I think there's a lot of opportunity that you can get up an early break potentially.

Honestly, it kind of just depends. Like I've served first, I've returned first. It doesn't truly matter.

I think sometimes I kind of like the opportunity to just kind of really get some good swings and some good hits before I have to serve first.

Q. So you change it depending how you feel on the day?

MADISON KEYS: Yeah.

Q. Iga has just wrapped up. If you could just give us your thoughts on the specifics of her game that makes her such an incredible threat, especially it seems this last couple of weeks? Just take us back when you have beaten her once before in Cincy a few years back. What is it from your game that you have to bring to compete in the next couple of days?

MADISON KEYS: I think Iga is tough to beat because she has a lot of spin kind of naturally on both sides. She's a good server. She's a good returner. She moves incredibly well.

I think the biggest thing that makes her so difficult to beat is because since she moves so well, if you miss your spot just slightly, she has enough time to recover, and then the point goes back to neutral.

So I think it's really hard to ever really get ahead in a point. I think for most of us out here, you are not really going to try to out-defend Iga. So then there's just such a balance of being aggressive and trying to get her to move and going for things, but not pressing too hard and not going for anything too quickly. So I think she just does such a good job at making people start going for a little bit too much too quickly.

I think when I won that match in Cincinnati, I also love the courts in Cincinnati, they play pretty fast. I grew up playing in Cincy. It was just kind of one of those days where the ball felt lively, and I was able to kind of get ahead a little bit earlier in the point consistently and just was able to kind of run with that pressure.

I feel like every other time I've played her it's been on the slowest court ever (smiling), and she's just gotten every single ball back over.

Q. I just wanted to ask about the crowds here in Australia, especially in comparison to, I guess, your home slam and the other slams. There were a load of Americans on Rod Laver. How was it for you?

MADISON KEYS: I always really love playing here. I have typically had some really great crowd support. There are quite a few Americans pretty much on every court where you go here. So it's always nice to have some home-grown support as well.

I think every slam has a different vibe for all of the fans. I would say here is definitely the most fun. Most fun. They love tennis. They're loud. They're lively. But I've always really enjoyed my time here. Other than having to play an Australian here, I'm usually in a crowd that's pretty supportive.

Q. On the crowd, I wanted to ask, you mentioned coming out a little bit flat at the start. It certainly felt a bit emptier, I guess, this morning. There's been some criticism about sort of scheduling the women's match early and trying to get them out of the way from Pam Shriver and others. Did you feel any of that in the atmosphere when you were coming out, or have you got any thoughts on the attendance at matches like yours, you know, a significant quarterfinal?

MADISON KEYS: No, I mean, I personally really enjoy playing earlier in the day. I think you kind of know that it's probably not going to be at its max capacity just because people are kind of slowly coming in.

I would say that the crowd definitely had nothing to do with the reason why I was starting flat. I mean, to be totally honest, I didn't even think about it or never even crossed my mind.