BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 9, 2026

Madison Keys

Press Conference

S. KARTAL/M. Keys

2-6, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Maddie, what made it difficult for you out there tonight?

MADISON KEYS: I think she honestly just played really well, served really well, and I thought she used her forehand to dictate and move the ball around really well.

Felt like I played a really good first set, and then just kind of, the conditions changed a little bit, and I felt like I kind of lost my footing a little bit.

Yeah, I mean, some good positives to take from that. I think that's probably the first time in a while where I have had such a solid set, but yeah, I just think she played better today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What do you think, after playing so well, did you feel like a drop in your level or was it just that she raised her game?

MADISON KEYS: I feel like, I mean, I feel like it got a little bit colder and started playing a little bit deader. I think she adapted a little bit better and started playing more heavy balls with her forehand. I think I was trying to still play as if we had the sun up.

I mean, honestly, I think at the end, it's hard when all of my service games are close and tight, and she's holding at love or 15.

Q. The tournament, in general, talk about your energy, your game, your level, all of that.

MADISON KEYS: I felt okay. It's been a tough kind of couple weeks for me, trying to rehab and get ready as quickly as possible for here.

Probably not the most perfect preparation that I would have wanted, but I felt like we did the best that we could. I mean, that's definitely not why I lost today.

Q. What happens now? Are you going to take a few days off, or are you going to get straight back to it?

MADISON KEYS: We have, what, one week? Yeah, so probably going to fly home, get home late tomorrow, maybe take a day off, maybe not, and start practicing, because we play again in however many days, six days, eight days, something like that?

Q. On Pegula, you guys are close, do the podcast and all that, do you feel like she's coming into her own as sort of a tour leader and as a player?

MADISON KEYS: Like now, or...

Q. Yeah.

MADISON KEYS: I mean, I think she's been pretty much a name at the end of the tournament for a few years now, so I think that's kind of her superpower is she seems like she kind of figured her game out and how she wanted to play, and then she hasn't gone away.

I don't know if I would say right now specifically. Obviously she broke through, was it two years ago, at the US Open, to make her first final, but, I mean, I think her consistency, and she doesn't lose matches that she shouldn't lose.