OMNIUM BANQUE NATIONALE

July 27, 2025

Madison Keys

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What does this tournament represent for you, and how does it stand out from the others?

MADISON KEYS: I've always really enjoyed playing here. I've made the final, I guess, nine years ago now, so I have a lot of really good memories. I haven't been able to play it quite as consistently as I want to, but I feel like I've had some good results. So hoping to have another good year here in Montreal.

Q. I was just wondering, you've been on the tour for some years, so you saw what Genie Bouchard was on the tour. What will you remember from her career, having been around her for a number of years?

MADISON KEYS: I think we grew up in juniors together, so I've known Genie for a long time and have played against her since we were kids. I think it's always really fun to grow up with someone and see us both kind of make our way through the rankings.

She obviously had a phenomenal career and had a lot of incredible achievements, making the finals of two Grand Slams -- two Grand Slams -- and being I think top 5. Or maybe one Grand Slam and a semifinal.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's always really incredible to grow up with someone and then see them have such an amazing career.

Q. Can you sort of get a grasp of her charisma and what made her such a big star in the world of tennis, especially here obviously in Canada, but she had something that was beyond whatever result she got? Can you pinpoint what was the charisma about her?

MADISON KEYS: I think Genie is just very much herself, and I think she comes across -- I think you can see that. Everything she kind of says and does is very authentic. I think people always really gravitated towards that.

I think we always really enjoy watching people be themselves, especially in the spotlight. I think sometimes everyone gets a little bit too scripted a little bit, and I just feel like she never really fell into that.

Q. It's been a very strong season for you. Obviously on hard courts particularly. How are you kind of maybe approaching -- obviously this is your first hard court tournament I think since Miami. How do you kind of approach this kind of summer hard court swing, obviously going into Cincinnati, US Open? What's kind of your mindset? How are you feeling? How are you kind of approaching it?

MADISON KEYS: I'm really excited to be back on the hard courts, especially this time of year. It's always my favorite going into some of my favorite tournaments. I'm really looking forward to it.

I was happy to after Wimbledon to have a few weeks to practice and train, and it felt like it's been a while since I've had a good bit of time to actually train in between tournaments.

So feeling good. I feel like I was able to actually work on some stuff, so really looking forward to hopefully playing some good tennis.

Q. There's been some issues in town with the air quality this week because of forest fires across the country. I was just wondering, what's been your own experience in the city and playing and training? Has it been a challenge at all? Have you found the conditions challenging for you?

MADISON KEYS: No. I mean, I obviously can see when I'm in my hotel room, but it hasn't been an issue and haven't noticed it as far as walking around or training or anything like that.

Q. I know you're kind of used to it throughout different tournaments, but obviously here in Canada it's the first time that they're having this expanded draw. More players also means the first round bye and also the break, kind of not playing every day down the stretch in this tournament. How do you kind of approach that? Is it any different for you in terms of having more time spread out over a longer time between matches, like in terms of rest, recovery, that kind of thing?

MADISON KEYS: I think that if you have a long match, it's always kind of nice to be able to have the next day off to recover a little bit, but I also think that there's not -- once you're at a tournament, there's not really a whole lot of rest and recovery happening. You're just kind of doing what you can in your managing, and your days off aren't really relaxed and chill. You're still coming onsite and practicing and doing all of the things.

So I think especially now as it's become a little bit more of the norm to have this sort of draw-in format, I think we're all a little bit on autopilot at this point and kind of know how to manage the weeks.