Madison Keys’ feel-good Grand Slam win rated as ‘one of the most popular’

Shahida Jacobs
Pictured: Madison Keys with Australian Open trophy
Madison Keys with Australian Open trophy

The sky is the limit for Madison Keys with her Australian Open title run described as “one of the most popular” success stories in recent years.

Tipped to win a Grand Slam from a young age, Keys played in her maiden major final at the 20217 US Open at the age of 22 where she finished runner-up to Sloane Stephens.

Having reached a career-high of No 7, her form started to dip while injuries also took its toll and she bounced up and down the rankings.

However, there were signs of improvement over the past two years as she reached the semi-final of the 2022 Australian Open and the last four of the US Open a year later.

After starting 2025 with the Adelaide International trophy, Keys kicked on at the season-opening Grand Slam as she defeated a host of top players – including world No 2 Iga Swiatek in the semi-final and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final – to win at Melbourne Park.

The American herself admitted that after years of “internal pressure” she decided to let go of the pressure and became relaxed about where she was in her career.

“I think it just kind of forced me to look at myself in the mirror a little bit and try to work on, like, kind of just internal pressure that I was putting on myself,” she explained.

“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. That was a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around.

“So I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without a Grand Slam. I finally got to the point where I was okay if it didn’t happen. I didn’t need it to feel like I had a good career or that I deserved to be talked about as a great tennis player.

“I feel like finally letting go of that kind of internal talk that I had just gave me the ability to actually go out and play some really good tennis to actually win a Grand Slam.”

Having done the hard work away from the court, it all clicked at the Australian Open and former world No 4 Tim Henman is delighted with the feel good story.

“It’s just an incredible story… To see the stars align, she’d been talked about as a future champion from the age of 14 and there was an enormous amount of pressure – which is self-inflicted – that goes with that,” he told talkSPORT.

“To see her put it all together, I think was one of the most popular Grand Slam wins for a long time.”

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Laura Robson – who has been friends with Keys from a young age – says despite her struggles, you could never really discount Keys at big tournaments as she was always “in the mix”.

The 29-year-old returned to No 7 in the WTA Rankings and there is no doubt that she continue to grow as a player.

“It’s all a bonus at this point and she always has been a consistently great player,” Robson said.

“It’s not as if she’s dropped out of the top 100 or anything in the past. She’s always been in the mix and it has always been a case of ‘this is a player who could be easily top 10, easily top five, but just hasn’t found the consistency.’

“Clearly, she’s found that in her game and now she’s number seven in the world. So it’s just a bonus to be going into these tournaments and feeling like she’s in the conversation to win them.

“To have that belief will make a huge, huge difference. I think the sky is the limit for Maddie.”

Former player-turned tennis pundit Robson also highlighted the “biggest change” that helped Keys to finally get her hands on a Grand Slam title.

“It was her mentality, the fact that she finally learnt how to accept that her career was good for what it was, even without a Grand Slam title,” she said.

“That wasn’t the be all and end all, and when she made that switch in her head, she was able to play freely when it mattered most.

“Even last summer, she was still starting to struggle when it got down to the business end of a tournament, and you could see the nerves and a little bit of panic on her face at times.

“And there was just none of that at the Australian Open. That was the biggest change, especially to watch from the sidelines.”