Australian Open: Madison Keys – Teenage prodigy to Grand Slam champ at 29

Madison Keys arrived in Australia unafraid of the possibility of her 30th birthday coming up next month, and with the modest aim of seeing how well she could perform.

After falling to two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in Saturday’s Australian Open final, the resilient American now has the answer.

Eight years after winning her first Grand Slam final in New York, Keys has now advanced to her first major title. Sloane Stephens won that game for her.

That 6-3, 6-0 loss has rankled ever since, but it was also a learning experience.

I think I never really gave myself a chance to play during that game because I was so enamored of the situation, opportunity, and everything else,” she said this week.

“I believe the most important thing for me has always been knowing that there will be many uncomfortable moments during the game,” she said.

” It’s going to be stressful. You are being watched by thousands of people.

Now ranked 14, Keys will return to the top 10 for the first time since 2019 next week.

She made her first semifinal at Melbourne Park in 2015 as a prodigious 19-year-old to showcase her potential.

She defeated world number two Iga Swiatek in the final four of the year a decade later to set up a showdown with world number one Sabalenka.

Since Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999, the Belarusian had been attempting to become the first woman to have won three consecutive Melbourne crowns.

But Keys, the 19th seed and underdog, made a nonsense of all that to clinch the title 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in an absorbing final.

Keys ended her season early in October last year and married her coach, Bjorn Fratangelo, a month later.

Since Fratangelo became her coach in 2023, the two players have been dating since 2017.

On the day before the final, Fratangelo stated to the media that Keys’s best was yet to come.

” I think she’s nowhere near her full potential, “said Fratangelo, a fellow American who won the boys ‘ singles at the 2011 French Open.

“You can get this far with an axe, but occasionally you just need new tools.” I think that’s what I’ve tried to bring to the table. “

Keys and Sabalenka both have powerful opponents who can outsmart them.

After losing the semifinal, Swiatek talked about Keys’s” bravery “in going for big shots at big moments.

On the eve of the final, Fratangelo called Sabalenka “a little more of the polished version of Madison.”

He remarked of Keys, “But what I’ve seen from her now is just what the greats do.”

They are capable of raising the bar when it matters most.

And so it proved on Saturday as Keys clinched the 10th title of her career, and biggest, for an early 30th birthday present.

Keys won the battle of her life, defeating Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins, both of whom were Melbourne’s former champions.