Madison Keys reveals the stigma she wants to be extinguished from sport - after overcoming Grand Slam final demons of old to win Australian Open
Madison Keys reveals the stigma she wants to be extinguished from sport - after overcoming Grand Slam final demons of old to win Australian Open
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Australian Open champion Madison Keys hopes the stigma around therapy in sport continues to be ground down so that others can achieve the kind of release which carried her to this title. There is much talk of legacy in this sport and that is normally calculated by weight of silverware. But if Keys’ triumph here in Melbourne can stand as a symbol of what can be achieved when a struggling athlete is brave enough to allow themselves to be helped - what a powerful and lasting legacy that would leave.
![[Keys, who was ranked as No19 seed going into the final, defeated world No1 Aryna Sabalenka in a stunning upset victory, denying the Belarusian a third straight Australian Open title]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/26/15/94532559-14327021-image-a-4_1737904312804.jpg)
The 29-year-old estimates that the talk of her winning a Grand Slam began when she was 11 or 12 years old. ‘It was meant to be confidence-building but as I got older and it didn't happen, it feels like, will this ever actually happen?,’ said Keys after beating world No1 Aryna Sabalenka in a superb final.
![[Keys has credited 'lots of therapy' as key to overcoming mental health struggles on the court]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/26/15/94532561-14327021-image-a-5_1737904614486.jpg)
‘So it went from being something positive to something that was almost like panic. “Why hasn't it happened yet? Why haven't I been able to do it?”’. The contrast in Keys’ two Grand Slam finals could not have been greater. In the 2017 Us Open final against her good friend Sloane Stephens - one of the first to congratulate her on Saturday night - Keys was crippled by nerves. Eight years later against Sabalenka on Rod Laver Arena, she played with utter conviction and not an atom of fear.
Madison Keys secured her first ever Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, nearly eight years on from crumbling under the pressure in her last Grand Slam final at the 2017 US Open. Keys, who was ranked as No19 seed going into the final, defeated world No1 Aryna Sabalenka in a stunning upset victory, denying the Belarusian a third straight Australian Open title.
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