Australian Open: Madison Keys can win her first Slam title and stop Aryna Sabalenka's threepeat
Australian Open: Madison Keys can win her first Slam title and stop Aryna Sabalenka's threepeat
Share:
The Madison Keys who will play two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka for the title at the Australian Open on Saturday night is not the same Madison Keys who was the runner-up at the U.S. Open back in 2017, the one other time the American participated in a Grand Slam final.
Her racket is different, for one thing, a switch made ahead of this season to help protect her right shoulder and offer more controlled power. Her coach is different, too, as of 2023: her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo. And her mindset is different, Keys explained a little past 1 a.m. on Friday after upsetting Iga Swiatek in the semifinals at Melbourne Park.
The 6-3, 6-0 loss at age 22 to her close friend Sloane Stephens at Arthur Ashe Stadium with a trophy at stake helped shape the way Keys will approach matters when she steps into Rod Laver Arena less than a month before her 30th birthday to face Sabalenka with another major title in the offing.
After that U.S. Open final, in which she made 30 unforced errors, Keys acknowledged not having “handled the occasion perfectly” and figured her performance "came down to nerves and all of that.”. The experience stuck with her. “I’ve obviously thought of that match endlessly for the past eight years,” Keys said. “During that match, I was so consumed with being nervous and the moment and the opportunity and all of that, that I never really gave myself a chance to actually play.”.
