Madison Keys, a former adolescent, arrived in Australia to assess her ability to perform as her 30th birthday approaches.
The resilient American now has the answer — right up with the best — after reaching Saturday’s final, where she will face two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Eight years after her first Grand Slam final in New York, Keys is on a renaissance.
She will now be 14 when she makes her first appearance in the top 10 since 2019.
She made her first semi-final at Melbourne Park in 2015 as a 19-year-old.
A decade later, she finds herself in the final, tasked with preventing Sabalenka from becoming the first woman to win three Melbourne titles in a row since Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999.
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.
If the couple earns their maiden major after Saturday, it will be a match made in heaven.
Zverev enters the Australian Open Final after Djokovic retires with injuries.
‘ Sharpening the axe’ ,
“It was just kind of like: how much do you want to get out of this”? Fratangelo told reporters on Friday about their on-court relationship, before warning that Keys’s best was yet to come.
“I think she’s nowhere near her full potential”, added Fratangelo, a fellow American who won the boys ‘ singles at the 2011 French Open.
“You can get the axe far, but occasionally you just need new tools. I think that’s what I’ve tried to bring to the table.
” I just thought: OK, if we make a few changes and some subtle tweaks here and there… then all of a sudden you’re in the mix, and you’re being talked about again, like she is now. “
Keys has a real chance of creating another upset in the final with a power game that resembles Sabalenka’s.
” Maybe Aryna is a little more of the polished version of Madison, “said Fratangelo.
But what I’ve learned from her is exactly what greats do: they can raise the bar when it matters most.
Before coming out of a set down and saving a match point against world number two Iga Swiatek in her semi-final, Keys had already defeated former Melbourne finalists Danielle Collins and Elena Rybakina.
” That was as gutsy as I’ve ever seen her compete, “said Fratangelo after Keys came through a nerve-curdling third-set tiebreak.
To do it in that situation against someone who, according to Iga, is already an all-time great.
“Wow, how she managed to survive the third set really, really awesome.”
Source: Channels TV
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