ROLAND GARROS

May 23, 2025

Madison Keys

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Maddie, welcome back to Roland Garros. Just talk us through how you're feeling and how your preparation and lead-up to the tournament has been.

MADISON KEYS: Really looking forward to playing here in Paris again. I had obviously a decent amount of success in Madrid and less success in Rome, but still think there is still a lot of positives and looking forward to playing here in Paris.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I wanted to talk with you about the success of women tennis in America. What are the main reason to explain that you are four in the top 10, I think? What are the main reason, please.

MADISON KEYS: I think that the American women we have had, I think many years of long success with a lot of us being in the top 10, top 20, and we have had a large group kind of always, and I think that's really helped kind of push all of us to continue to do better.

I grew up playing with a lot of these girls, and now there is even the younger generation. So I think it's just we have a lot of really good competition and we have been able to kind of keep pushing each other throughout our entire careers, and I think it's just kind of shown that not only have we all made it to the pros, but we all continue to push each other even later in our careers and continuing to do well.

So I really think it's just been the sheer amount of players that we have in juniors, and from there, there has been a lot of us that have just had success.

Q. How would you say, if at all, things have changed for you now that you are a Grand Slam champion? On the court, off the court, how you see yourself, how maybe others see you?

MADISON KEYS: I keep getting this question, and I don't really think much has changed in my life, other than there's more interview requests and people want to talk to me (smiling).

But I think I had a pretty successful career already, so it was just kind of the one thing that kind of felt like everyone was just kind of like waiting to happen.

So I don't think it's changed that dramatically for me. I think the biggest thing is just -- I think just kind of the perspective shift that I have had, and it's a little bit funny having had the same goal for the entirety of your career and then finally achieving that, and then having to kind of sit down and shift the mindset a little bit because you actually did it, and now for the first time you get to kind of realign those goals.

Q. Could you describe a little bit more by what you mean by "shift in mindset"?

MADISON KEYS: I think it's just, you know, from the time I was 14, I just always wanted to win a Grand Slam, and what would that feel like? It was just kind of always an unknown.

For 16 years, it was just always kind of still the elusive question, and then to finally achieve it and feel that success, you know, have that achievement and then kind of go home and then think, okay, wait, this is the first time that I don't not know anymore. It's, I did it.

So I think that's just the biggest thing. Just kind of shifting past goals that you have now achieved and setting new ones.

Q. The one you won in Australia, I think none of us will forget the night you talked about sort of the experience of being in therapy and learning to be happy with who you are in your life regardless of your tennis results, and then the thing that makes you really happy -- which I imagine it did. Was there any concern or discussion or thought processes for you of, I've got to be careful and make sure this doesn't make me too happy? I imagine when you experience this at this point in your life after knowing yourself in a different way it might color or recalibrate how you might think of this achievement.

MADISON KEYS: I think that's kind of almost the double-edged sword of success, especially as a tennis player. I mean, I did all of this work to get to the point where I didn't need the success on the tennis court anymore. Then it kind of happens, and then you really enjoy it and you like it. I think it's taken a lot of conscious effort to not get sucked back into bad habits.

I think that's just kind of the reality of life. I think you spend all this time kind of recognizing the habits that you kind of shift into and then big things happen, and I think you are kind of searching for a little bit of comfort and sliding back into bad habits I think is inevitable.

So it's just been a lot of conscious effort and work to make sure that all of the progress that I made and all of just kind of self-work that I did doesn't get lost in the shuffle of winning a slam.

Q. You talked a lot about finding new goals, having to find and set new goals after having this one singular one for so long. Can you share what the goals are? Was it obvious what they should be? Was that quite a process to decide on new goals?

MADISON KEYS: I think the big thing for me personally is I don't really like to have singular results-based goals only. They are really hard to actually achieve and you have to have someone else who is trying to stop you from getting there.

I like to obviously have those goals of winning another Grand Slam, but I have really tried to focus on things I have full control over. So I think one of them that I have really been working on has just been to really just enjoy playing tennis and enjoy being out there and enjoy the uncomfortable moments of very nervous, tight moments and just kind of embracing that and just taking that all in.

I think a big reason why that is, is because I'm obviously at the tail end of my career, and I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be playing out here and be on the big stages and have those opportunities.

Really just kind of soaking those in while I can.

Q. As a hard-working player, I want to know your thoughts on infusions. Max Purcell was banned for undergoing through two intravenous infusions, forbidden under the WADA code. The ITIA case book documents say he feigned injuries to justify infusion. In the 90's, back in the days when allowed, infusions were common in tennis. They were for recovery and performance and were not detectable in normal doping test. So do you think they are still a problem today because it's so easy to do it?

MADISON KEYS: I have no idea, honestly. I know I don't do them, so that's really all I can comment on.

Q. Some people talk about the kind of flatness they feel when you finally achieve this thing and you think it's going to make you happy and solve everything and it doesn't. Was there an element of flatness in the aftermath? And also, whether you think having that in your back pocket will mean you process defeats differently or maybe it doesn't work like that, and it's still a defeat is a defeat and the fact you won a big tournament a couple months ago becomes irrelevant?

MADISON KEYS: I don't think I personally felt the flatness after. I know I was basically just horizontal on my couch for a week, just trying to mentally and emotionally just recover. But I can see how that happens. Like I said, you spend all this time wondering what it's going to feel like and then it happens.

I think if it's something that you kind of need, and you think it's going to be life-changing, I can see how it feels a little bit deflating.

I think it's just the hard part about tennis is that you have this amazing win and there is a tournament two days later, and people kind of start talking about who won that tournament. Then someone else wins the next week.

Other sports have months where they get to celebrate it and all that. We have tournaments we're supposed to play two weeks later.

So I can see how that happens, and I can see how we kind of all, I think, immediately fall into the habit of what's next. And I think that I have really tried to just kind of take the time to appreciate what I did, what I achieved, and not forget that too quickly. Kind of just really just appreciate it.

But also, the reality is we're at another Grand Slam and someone else is going to be the winner in two weeks. You want to try to do everything that you can to make sure that it's you.

Q. You are the only player in the field who is capable of winning the calendar slam. Have you guys joked about that on the court at all?

MADISON KEYS: No, we haven't (Laughter.)