‘Just be nice’ – Madison Keys is using tennis to make a difference

Her face adorns the side of the stadium at Eastbourne, where she is defending champion, but Madison Keys’ focus is on those a lot less fortunate.

The American is ranked 12 in the world, has career earnings of more than $18million and is a former US Open finalist.

Her win on the Sussex coast a year ago means she now has eight WTA titles to her name, and victory at the WTA500 tournament in Strasbourg in May means she heads towards Wimbledon in high spirits.

For all her success on court what makes the 29-year-old right-hander most proud is what she has done for others since the coronavirus pandemic locked down the world in 2020.

Keys has been a Nike athlete since her WTA debut at the age of just 14 and featured in a high-profile inspirational ad campaign for the apparel company in 2019.

“I feel like the tennis world is fairly traditional, a little bit conservative, but I think I came in at such a young age having no understanding of that. I never feel like I have to be stuck in any sort of lines,” she said in the ad.

When the pandemic struck the following year she was already involved with Fearlessly Girl, an anti-bullying organisation aimed at empowering young women through programmes in schools across North America.

But as Covid-19 spread fear and death across continents she wanted to widen it out to make it less gender and age-based. More inclusive.

She established Kindness Wins, a non-profit foundation with a mission to promote ‘kindness to youth, kindness to self and kindness to others in times of struggle’.

Or, as the hugely personable Keys puts it herself, “just be nice and don’t be an asshole to people”.

“I don’t know if it’s that there’s been more of a need since Covid, with all the issues that came with it, or if it’s that I started paying attention more,” she tells Tennis365 in an interview.

“At that time, when many of us were experiencing fear and isolation, I wanted to step up and offer my help.”

She began with the award of $100 Visa gift cards to individuals who were struggling and as the world returned to some sort of normality, albeit a very new normal, she decided to marry the foundation with the sport she plays so well.

“I’ve always just thought tennis has brought so much into my life,” the American explains. “I think it’s amazing for giving people opportunities as well as amazing life lessons: learning how to compete, make friends and all of that.

“I just felt getting as many kids as possible the opportunity to play tennis was the most important thing. It’s been really amazing that, with all the great people who give us money, we’ve been able to help kids get out on the court.

“Growing up tennis wasn’t super accessible, but through fundraising and donations we’ve been able to get rackets and balls and clothes to kids who need them – and to resurface public courts so people can play on them and make them usable.”

Keys casts her gaze out of the window to the nearby seafront and the pebbled beach glinting in the long-overdue South Coast sunshine.

“It can’t be comfortable to lay on rocks!” she says, only half joking, before turning her attention to her Eastbourne title defence, which began with victory over Anhelina Kalinina.

“Obviously seeing my face is giant on the side of the stadium, having to look at it every day, adds a little bit of extra pressure,” she continues.

“But I’ve always really loved this tournament because it’s a big tournament with big names but in a small city. You can kind of walk around everywhere, which is really nice coming off the craziness of being in a bunch of big cities. It’s a really nice change of pace ahead of Wimbledon.”

Keys’ best performances at SW19 were reaching the quarter-finals in 2015 and again last summer when she lost in straight sets to Aryna Sabalenka.

The 2017 US Open runner-up, who will wear Nike’s Wimbledon-specific court shoes at the All England Club, is focused on going at least one round further this time, having made herself unavailable for next month’s Paris Olympics.

“Grass is a pretty natural surface for me to play on,” she says. “I think my game suits it really well without having to make any big changes.”

American tennis is flourishing right now, with Tommy Paul having won Queen’s at the weekend and Jessica Pegula taking her first grass-court title the same day in Berlin.

“I think [the state of US tennis] is great, what with Jessie and Tommy both winning at the weekend,” says Keys. “It seems that every week there are some great matches, big upsets, everyone doing really well.

“It’s great to see. We’ve all worked really hard to try to get there.”

Madison Keys has been a Nike athlete since 2014. Shop Nike’s tennis range at Nike.com.