By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Madison Keys once suffered under the weight of expectation that one day, some day, she would achieve the Grand Slam success tipped for her since she was an 11-year-old prodigy.
On Saturday, nearly 16 years after turning professional, the liberated American upset world number one Aryna Sabalenka 6-3 2-6 7-5 in the Australian Open final.
Good things come to those who wait as the saying goes — but Keys’s wait may have seemed interminable.
Her Australian Open triumph came in her 46th Grand Slam, the third-most for a maiden major trophy in the professional era, behind only Flavia Pennetta and Marion Bartoli.
While her pile-driving groundstrokes and courage under fire were vital in toppling Sabalenka, the double defending champion and world number one, Keys credited therapy for helping her play her best tennis.
She needed it to quieten the nagging voices in her head about her lack of major success.
“I think as I got older and I had gotten close and it didn’t happen, it kind of feels like, ‘Will this ever actually happen? If it doesn’t happen, I didn’t live up to what everyone told me I should have done,'” she told reporters.
“I finally got to the point where I was personally low enough that I was like, I don’t really care if this helps me perform, I just want to feel better.
“I honestly think that had I not done that, then I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
Ten years ago, at the age of 19, Keys appeared set to deliver on the hype as she stormed into her first Grand Slam semi-finals at Melbourne Park.
But she was in no way regarded a title threat at this year’s tournament.
Her 2024 season was blighted by injury and her best effort at the three Grand Slams she played was a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon.
BITTER DEFEAT
When she came to Melbourne Park, she was at peace with the prospect that the peak of her tennis career might be her run to the 2017 U.S. Open final, a match that ended in bitter defeat by her compatriot Sloane Stephens.
The equation changed suddenly on Thursday when the 19th seed upset five-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in a three-set thriller to reach the final.
The biggest win of her career was topped by a bigger one on Saturday as she felled Sabalenka.
It banished the demons of their last Grand Slam match-up in the 2023 U.S. Open semi-finals, where she gave up a one-set lead to lose in three and wept in the post-match press conference.
A year-and-a-half on, it was Sabalenka weeping bitterly under a towel at Rod Laver Arena.
Keys goes down in tennis annals as the woman who denied the Belarusian a third successive title at Melbourne Park and ended her 20-match winning streak at the hardcourt major.
The celebrations were teary and joyous as she went to her team and wrapped up her husband-coach Bjorn Fratangelo in a hug two months after wedding the former tennis player.
Having finally crashed through the Grand Slam barrier, Keys’s ranking will improve to seven, a return to her peak more than eight years ago.
The Grand Slam monkey may be off her back but the therapy will continue, said Keys.
“It’s something I will continue to do for the rest of my life,” she said.
“I think if more people do it and more people talk about it, then it just kind of becomes the norm. It’s almost as if you’re going to the doctor. No one bats an eye at that.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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