OMNIUM BANQUE NATIONALE

August 1, 2025

Madison Keys

Press Conference

M. KEYS/C. McNally

2-6, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Talk us through your match and your thoughts. What do you think helped you today on court?

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, happy that I was able to kind of rebound after the first set, settle in a little bit. Then after that, I think I actually found my game pretty well and was able to kind of run with it.

Happy to be able to kind of have a pretty uncomplicated match after the first set.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Caty was playing great tennis, right?

MADISON KEYS: Yes.

Q. You knew that coming in. What were you expecting, and did she do anything that surprised you?

MADISON KEYS: I don't think I would say that she did anything that surprised me. I think she's a really good tennis player. I think she's a very good all-court player as well.

So I was expecting her to come in and slice and try to change up the pace. I just think that she played really well, and it's good to see that she's finding her level again after being injured.

She's also won a ton of matches the last couple of weeks, and I feel like no matter what level you're doing that at, you're just building your own confidence. I think that really helps in matches like this.

I think I just had to kind of raise my level. Was going for a little bit too much too soon in the first set. But yeah, I was impressed with her, and I felt like I had to raise my level in order to get the win.

Q. Can I ask an off-the-wall question?

MADISON KEYS: Sure.

Q. A couple of years ago at the Australian Open they were talking about it making just 16 seeds instead of 32. Remember that? They were going to have 16 seeds instead of 32. They asked you about it. You know what your response was?

MADISON KEYS: I probably said it was dumb.

Q. You said, Why? Do you have any other deep thoughts about seeds at tournaments? Like here, do you think 32 is good for the 96 players?

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, seems to be working. So I don't know why we would change things up now.

Q. Why?

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, why are we trying to reinvent the wheel?

Q. I saw the win for you where you really have to dig in, and you were able to dig in and do that. You have played a lot of tennis this season. Are you happy with the way that you're digging in, you're grinding, you're getting these wins? Also, kind of a two-parter, do you feel you're competing better than ever, or is that maybe a line with a slight tactical switch? You talked about that with the new racquet, et cetera. Is it a combination of things?

MADISON KEYS: I've definitely played a lot of tennis. It's probably the most tennis I've ever played in my career, and I think the biggest thing is that I'm just really happy that my body is holding up the way that it has been.

Obviously injuries have always been something that kind of hampered me season to season, so that was a really big goal of mine is to just try to bulletproof my body as much as possible so I could play these long matches and be able to bounce back the next day. So super happy about that.

I think that the competitive side of things, it's always tough because I think I've always tried to be a good competitor, but I think sometimes knowing when to go for things and when to kind of pull back was always where I struggled a little bit.

I felt like a lot of times I would maybe get a little bit too tentative in really important points and play a little bit too safe, but I definitely have a lot more confidence now, especially switching racquets, that I just have a little bit more control, and I can do the things that I want to do a little bit easier.

So I feel like there's probably a few things that have helped influence just being able to stay kind of gritty through these matches.

Q. How different are you as a person compared to when you made the final here nine years ago?

MADISON KEYS: Very different. I sometimes laugh because, what is it, they say when you are 25, your frontal lobe fully forms. I feel like a completely different person from five years ago, from ten years ago.

I think for me in my kind of career I think a lot of things have had to happen the way that they did just for me to kind of be who I am at this point. I'm really proud of everything that I've accomplished, but I think that I don't know if I would have been able to achieve kind of some of the things that I have been had I not gone through some of the struggles earlier, as much as I wish that I could have just bypassed them.

I just feel like I'm a very different person, and I feel like year to year on this tour you're constantly relearning things, and new pressures come up, and you have to learn how to navigate them. I think that's what is so special I think to tennis is that each year looks very different.

Q. Speaking of learning things, you haven't played all that great in terms of Toronto, right? Why do you play so well here? Is it the conditions? We know conditions are different in Montreal to Toronto. Is it conditions? Is it something else? Is it something about the city, the feel you get playing in a somewhat European city, even though we know Cincy is on the way, which you love?

MADISON KEYS: I'm not really sure why I've always tended to do better in Montreal. I think some of it is I haven't played a lot in Toronto as well. I feel like a lot of the years that I've missed it or been injured just happens to fall when it's in Toronto. So maybe I just haven't given it a fair chance yet.

Q. Billie Jean King once said you only hit two or three really perfect shots in every match. I wonder if you agree with that and if you can think of any two or three you hit today like that?

MADISON KEYS: I would say probably the last game of the match I think I hit some really good forehands down the line, and I would say that's probably my best shot. I should probably use it a little bit more often, but probably the last three forehands down the line were probably the three best ones that I hit all match.

Q. How is the coffee hunting going? You've talked about it so much this year. How is it going, in a city that has some great coffee?

MADISON KEYS: There's lots of options. I've been kind of hopping around from place to place. I always really enjoy being able to do that. It's nice when we're in kind of more central cities where we can actually have lots of options.

I'm quite picky myself because I personally think I make pretty good coffee at home. My standard is pretty high, but I've had some good coffee so far.

Q. Last thing, maybe you can't have it because you're a tennis player, but Montreal is very famous for a few things. You have the poutine, maybe you know about, smoked meat. What's the third one? It's the bagels. So any of that?

MADISON KEYS: I've had two of the three.

Q. Which ones have you had?

MADISON KEYS: I've had the smoked meat, and I've had the bagels. Personally I still take a New York bagel. Sorry. They're a little sweet for me. I prefer the saltier New York bagels, but the smoked meat was great (laughing).