INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — When Madison Keys was 10, her whole household relocated to Florida from their small city in Illinois so she may prepare at Chris Evert’s tennis academy. The expectations had been excessive, and he or she dreamed of successful a Grand Slam title.
It did not take lengthy for Keys to succeed in the game’s largest levels. She made her main principal draw debut as a 16-year-old on the US Open and even gained her first-round match.
However, regardless of the hype and her personal ambition, it could take 46 principal draw Slam appearances — stuffed with deep runs and early exits, and even a closing look on the US Open in 2017 — for Keys to attain what had been her singular focus for so long as she may bear in mind. In January, following an unimaginable fortnight through which she defeated two-time defending champion and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka within the closing, Keys turned the Australian Open champion.
An elated Keys traveled residence — on three totally different flights — with the trophy proper by her aspect, as if not eager to likelihood shedding what she had labored so laborious for. After a whirlwind of media appearances in New York, Keys went residence together with her husband and coach Bjorn Fratangelo and was instantly haunted by a query: Now what?
She spent the following three days on her sofa.
“It was actually emotionally draining,” Keys, 30, instructed ESPN this week forward of the BNP Paribas Open. “I imply, you had been simply experiencing the very best of highs and you then come residence and it simply sort of ends. I used to be principally comatose simply making an attempt to get well. It was an incredible achievement, I used to be so glad, however the emotional curler coaster afterwards was a little bit bit stunning.”
Keys, now ranked a career-high of No. 5, will not be the primary to expertise this post-Slam letdown. Actually, she mentioned she had been warned.
“It is really humorous what number of former gamers I had attain out and be like, ‘The existential disaster is completely regular,'” Keys mentioned.
A number of gamers instructed her that her first apply again can be a tricky one — and it was, in her phrases, “tragic.” However extra importantly, they instructed her she would in all probability need to rethink all the pieces she had recognized. Now that she achieved the one factor that had fueled her, what would her new objectives be? What would hold her motivated?
Dominic Thiem, the previous world No. 3 who gained his solely main title on the US Open in 2020, talked concerning the toll that reaching the feat took on him.
“After [the US Open] I used to be in a state of euphoria,” Thiem mentioned in a 2021 interview to Austrian newspaper Der Customary. “The outcomes had been nonetheless good, I reached the ultimate on the ATP Finals in London. However throughout the preparation for this season I fell right into a gap … I spent 15 years chasing the massive aim with out trying to the left or the fitting. As I mentioned, [and then] I achieved it.”
Three-time main champion Ashleigh Barty echoed Thiem’s sentiments just lately whereas selling her e book, “My Dream Time.”
“Profitable Wimbledon was the only factor I wished my complete profession,” Barty mentioned in a current interview with Information Corp. “However after that feat, in June 2021, the fireplace died inside.”
She added in her e book about her emotions on the time: “I do not know what I am enjoying for anymore. I believe I am carried out. I’ve received nothing left, no spark.”
Barty was by no means capable of finding it once more and, regardless of successful the Australian Open in 2022, she retired not lengthy after because the world No. 1 and at 25 years previous.
Decided to not go down the same path, Keys was proactive. She had began working with a psychologist a few 12 months in the past and has been seeing her each week since coming back from Australia. Keys shared together with her the entire feelings she was feeling since her triumph, and confided that it felt fairly totally different than she had anticipated. Keys, who received married in November, in contrast it to a heightened model of the day after her wedding ceremony. “It is like there’s all this planning, all this buildup and you then get up the following morning and also you go, ‘Wait, it is over?'”
Speaking via all of it has been very useful, she mentioned, and he or she’s happy with herself for being weak and “brutally trustworthy.” It is allowed her to seek out perspective throughout what she all the time thought can be the most effective time of her life.
And as an alternative of speeding again to competitors, Keys allowed herself some uncommon day without work. Whereas most of her friends had been competing within the Center East at 1000-level occasions in Doha and Dubai, Keys was at her Orlando-area residence and coaching on the USTA’s Nationwide Campus. Being across the youthful technology of up-and-coming American expertise at apply throughout that point let her soak within the victory — one thing that is tough to do in a sport like tennis through which there is a match each week. And it offered her an surprising ego increase.
“They had been all the time visor girlies earlier than they usually had been like, ‘I put on a hat due to you now,'” Keys mentioned. “I am like, “Gen Z likes me!'”
Being appreciated by her fellow gamers has all the time been one thing Keys has prided herself on — whereas some gamers actively keep away from pursuing friendships to keep up a aggressive edge, Keys relishes being the pleasant face or a listening ear within the locker room.
The reception to her Australian Open victory made her friends’ respect abundantly clear. It appeared as if everybody on tour — from present stars like Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Sloane Stephens to legends like Serena Williams — and even lots of her male counterparts flooded her social media accounts with congratulations.
so deserved 🥲 Go Madiii!!!
— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) January 25, 2025
We like to see it!!!! A lot deserved in each manner potential 🫶🏼♥️ https://t.co/0QOKFoJA79
— Jessie Pegula (@JPegula) January 25, 2025
“I used to be genuinely simply so glad for her,” Taylor Fritz, present world No. 4 and the top-ranked American man, instructed ESPN. Fritz has recognized Keys since their teenage years. “It has been awhile since I used to be genuinely that glad for any person carrying out one thing … She made the [US Open] closing all these years in the past and it is superb to see that occur for her now. I imply, she simply actually deserves it.”
For Keys, that sort of response means all the pieces.
“I’ve all the time wished being a great particular person to be the lead about me,” Keys mentioned. “I all the time rebelled in opposition to the thought that good individuals could not achieve success. I all the time hated that storyline. And I felt like, if successful a Grand Slam meant that I needed to change who I used to be as an individual and someway grow to be meaner or not as good, then it wasn’t actually price it to me, as a result of I do not wish to change who I’m simply to have some type of achievement that, let’s be actual, in 5 years, nobody’s going to care.
“And so it felt actually sort of validating to have the quantity of help that I received simply because to me, it sort of confirmed like, ‘OK, I believe possibly I am an OK particular person.’ That is actually vital to me and virtually extra particular than really successful.”
Keys returns to motion this week on the BNP Paribas Open some six weeks after her career-defining second. Because the No. 5 seed, she obtained a first-round bye and can face Anastasia Potapova on Saturday. There can be extra eyes on her than ever earlier than.
She is aware of the expectations are excessive however she additionally is aware of what she’s able to and is not placing an excessive amount of strain on herself. Keys hasn’t fairly discovered her new objectives and he or she desires to provide herself the time to take action. Previous to the Australian Open, she had made peace with the conclusion she may by no means win a significant — one thing her psychologist had helped her with — and whereas issues have clearly modified, she’s bringing that very same mentality to her newest chapter.
“It is a type of issues the place it is like, ‘OK, I did it as soon as, possibly I can do it once more,’ and clearly the aim is to win one other [Slam],” Keys mentioned. “But in addition, the truth is there are lots of actually nice gamers and it is actually laborious to win one so possibly it would not ever occur once more. And that is additionally OK …
“So in the interim, I believe my aim is to essentially be trustworthy in managing my expectations and persevering with to focus and do the issues that I did very well, and simply actually benefit from the course of as a result of truthfully, the month of January in Australia was in all probability among the most enjoyable that I’ve ever had on tennis courtroom.”