ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2026

Madison Keys

Press Conference

M. KEYS/H. Vandewinkel

6-3, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Obviously, no match in a Grand Slam is easy, but talk us through your thoughts of your performance today.

MADISON KEYS: Yeah, I think I played really well today. I think after the first six games or so, I think I really, obviously, found my footing and was able to kind of run with it and fight off a couple of break points.

So overall super happy with how I played today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. She's someone I think a lot of people hadn't heard of before this year, but she's had some good results. She was on the Belgian team that beat the U.S. Team also. I'm curious what you made of her game and what you were able to figure out?

MADISON KEYS: The U.S. Team, we also played her in Lake Nona last year, so I knew of her, and so I had an idea.

Then, obviously, she played so well against the U.S. Team a couple of weeks ago, so I definitely thought that I was going to have to, you know, come out and really stick to my game. I think that I did a really good job just kind of doing what I wanted to do and sticking with that.

Q. You landed almost 75% of your first serves today. Was that a point of emphasis for you, or was it just more like you just got into a good rhythm and things were just working out? Were you just really trying to make a concerted effort to take a little bit off your first serve and get it in there and play from there?

MADISON KEYS: I feel like it's playing so bouncy that my kick serve was working so well. So I think I was actually probably using that maybe a little bit more than I normally would, which is a little bit, obviously, of a safer serve, so I think that made a big impact.

Q. Just a quick question, I guess maybe more this is more of a rhetorical question. You pulled out of the final 125 in Strasbourg. It's safe to assume --

MADISON KEYS: Paris. Paris.

Q. Sorry. It's safe to assume that health-wise everything is good now? Feeling 100%?

MADISON KEYS: Good today. Yeah. We're good today (smiling).

Q. I wanted to ask if you have noticed the extreme proliferation of dogs at tournaments lately, and obviously tiny dogs because they have to travel, but I feel like every player has a dog now, and it's, like, nothing new, but I feel like it's really boomed in the past year. I wonder if you have noticed that and if you would ever consider? You don't travel with a dog; right?

MADISON KEYS: There's a lot of dogs.

Q. You have feelings about the dogs?

MADISON KEYS: There's just a lot of dogs. Dogs are great. I think dogs are a large responsibility, though. So as long as we're doing that, then I think dogs are wonderful.

Q. Oh, you're saying people could maybe be more responsible?

MADISON KEYS: I'm not saying anything. I'm saying dogs are a big responsibility, and we all need to take care of dogs. I, personally, really like sleeping in and don't like going for walks in the rain, so I don't have a dog yet, because I'm not ready for that responsibility (laughing).

So you will not see me on tour with a dog.

Q. Do you understand, maybe, the benefit of why a tennis player who kind of lives this nomadic like -- you get why they do it, though?

MADISON KEYS: 100%. It's so funny. Hailey has her dog who's, like, so sweet and so cute, but she's literally -- I just sit in the room, and I'm, like, just, like, hold my dog. I'm obsessed. She's so happy.

I totally see how it feels, like a little bit of normalcy and a piece of home. What are they called? Emotional support animals. I can see where that's valid when we travel so much to have a little bit of just, like, something that we love.

Q. I'm going to sliding. Varied topics here. I read in a recent interview that you said sliding on clay is like the most challenging aspect.

MADISON KEYS: I said that?

Q. That's what I read. Maybe you didn't. Maybe you have an opinion that's different to that.

MADISON KEYS: I think sliding, once you figure it out, it's kind of easy.

Q. Okay. How do you get to figure it out?

MADISON KEYS: I think I was lucky that I grew up in South Florida, and we have green clay, which is obviously different, but close enough that you can learn, at least, the footwork.

It was really just your coach telling you to go out, and honestly sometimes we would just run from sideline to sideline learning how to slide with both feet.

Q. Was that fun or grueling?

MADISON KEYS: It started fun. It was kind of how quickly you picked up how to slide. Was, like, did it stay fun or did it become more of a workout? I think just having all of those reps I was able to just kind of figure it out, and I think you see the people who grow up on clay, it's a pretty natural movement.

Then I think you see other people who maybe they kind of struggle at first in their career, but then it's almost like this light bulb moment when they do finally get it. It just feels like all of a sudden all these doors open up.

Q. What does a good slide feel like?

MADISON KEYS: A good slide feels like you have just the right amount of pressure in your feet so that you can kind of keep going as far as you want, and it's just you time it perfectly.

I was always so impressed with Kiki Bertens because she was the best, in my opinion. She was one of the best movers on clay, and she timed everything so perfectly, and she would slide with her outside leg so well, and she was always exactly where she wanted to be.

Q. Earlier Coco said that she didn't receive a response from the Australian Open after the incident with the smashing the racquet in the hallway. Not even an apology. Back when it happened, a lot of people said that you were quite active in, when the cameras were first put in, you were really active in the players council and wanting them to be taken out. I'm curious about your perspective on that whole situation?

MADISON KEYS: I guess it's not a new thing for me to be upset about when things like that happen. I feel like every single time I see some video on social media of some player having a total meltdown, and it's, like, all of the comments that come with it and the judgment and everything.

There's so much of our lives that we have to do publically, that I feel like it's becoming a little "big brother" that a lot of times you forget that there are cameras, because why would there be a camera watching you 24/7 a day?

I think especially sometimes you forget that there's microphones on them as well. It's just another layer of having to make sure that you're public-facing all of the time, and it just feels like we're getting a little too overbearing, I think, with all of the cameras.

I know people love them because it's content and whatever, but if you had to walk around your entire workplace with cameras all over, and at any moment if you did something dumb, it was going to be on social media, you would probably feel the way that I do as well (laughing).

Q. Did you feel your complaints were even kind of taken on board or responded to at all?

MADISON KEYS: I think the players agreed with me, but it just kind of, you know, the powers that be. They were approved, so it was just moving forward.

Obviously the way that the tours work, the players and the tournaments have to both agree to things in order to make a rule move forward, and if the players want it, but the tournaments think that it's great and it's good for broadcasting, and they make more money, then we're just going to have kind of a stalemate there.

So I got some signs that are put up, and now they say, "You're being broadcasted."

Q. Good job.

MADISON KEYS: Thank you, yeah, big win.

Q. I'm doing something that looks ahead to the Open, and it's about American players, how they deal with crowds, big matches, at the Open compared to other venues of the slams specifically. I wonder, for me, if you could just compare what it was like to play Aryna in Ashe 2023 compared to what it was like to play her in the Aussie Open final? How did the crowd and the atmosphere of the two venues -- one, of course, you're a home player. How did that affect you and what not?

MADISON KEYS: I think pretty much every time I've played at the US Open in front the of a big crowd, a small crowd, a late-night crowd, I've always had just the greatest experience.

They have helped me get back in matches. They have helped me in tough moments. I think looking back at the US Open match against Aryna, I think they really helped me kind of reset after the second set and then play really good tennis again.

Even when I lost the leads and things like that, there was still so much support that it's just a place that I've always felt like there's nothing like being an American playing in Ashe with a home crowd.

Q. I'm just curious for your level of intrigue, excitement, curiosity, whatever it may be, about the speculated Serena Williams comeback to tour this year?

MADISON KEYS: I think that Serena Williams playing tennis is only good for tennis. Let's be real, we all want to watch Serena play tennis.

I am excited to see. I'm going to check some entry lists occasionally, see what pops up. But, yeah, I mean, she's the G.O.A.T., so I think it would be amazing if she came back.

Q. It seems like a pretty universal sentiment that everyone is excited about this possibility?

MADISON KEYS: I mean, you literally get to watch history every single time she takes the court, so why not watch more?