After years of battling mental demons and coming up short in Grand Slam events, Madison Keys claimed her first major title at the Australian Open on Saturday. Keys defeated Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling three-set match, showcasing the complete game that had always been her trademark. This victory marks a significant turning point in Keys' career, as she overcomes the pressure of expectations and achieves the dream she had harbored since her teenage years.
MELBOURNE — Being told you will be a future world No. 1 at the age of 14 is an extremely tough burden for any young athlete to carry — just ask Madison Keys.In a sport where success is measured in major trophies, it took the American another 15 years after winning her first WTA Tour match as a young teenager to become a Grand Slam champion.She reached her first Slam semifinal in 2015 at Melbourne while still only 19.
Her first major final came two years later in New York, where nerves and fear engulfed her as she froze to be routed 6-3, 6-0 by Sloane Stephens.On Saturday she finally broke out of her mental shackles by beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in an instant classic on Rod Laver Arena.To do it, Keys had to overcome the demons eating away at her for years, constantly nagging that she was a failure. But how?'Lots of therapy,' she candidly admitted.Keys always had the complete game from a young age: a great serve, quick feet, punishing groundstrokes and comfortable at the net.But she could not rid herself of the anguish-inducing thought that she was letting down everyone around her by not winning one of tennis's greatest prizes.'Everything kind of happens for a reason,' Keys said.'For me specifically, I kind of had to go through some tough things.'It just kind of forced me to look at myself in the mirror a little bit and try to work on the internal pressure that I was putting on myself.'Her Slam defeats — one final, five semifinals and four quarterfinals — hit her hard, and it took years to convince herself she was not a failure, that her life in tennis had not been wasted.'I felt like from a pretty young age, I felt like if I never won a Grand Slam, then I wouldn't have lived up to what people thought I should have been,' said Keys.'That was a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around.'Last year, she curtailed her season early and married her coach Bjorn Fratangelo in November on what she called 'the best day of my life.'Crucially, she was ecstatically happy and at last at peace.'I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without winning a Grand Slam,' Keys said.Keys returned to the circuit after Christmas with a bang.She won the Adelaide International before Melbourne and is on a 12-match unbeaten streak, during which she beat five top-10 players, including the top two, and won eight matches in three sets.She will be world No. 7 in the new rankings on Monday, equalling her 2016 career-high achieved when she was just 20
TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN MADISON KEYS ARYNA SABALENKA GRAND SLAM MENTAL HEALTH BREAKTHROUGH CAREER HIGH
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