After years of coming up short in grand slams, Madison Keys finally broke through to win her first grand slam title at the 2025 Australian Open. Keys came into the tournament as the No. 19 seed, defeating No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the final. Sabalenka was gunning for a third straight Australian Open title and a fourth grand slam title, making her the heavy favorite coming in. In addition to defeating the number one player in the world, Keys also defeated No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals by a final score of 5-7, 6-1, 7-6.
Keys became the first woman to defeat the top two players in the world en route to an Australian Open title since Serena Williams defeated No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals and No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the final back in 2005. The last woman to do it at a grand slam was Svetlana Kuznetsova at the French Open in 2009. Kuznetsova defeated No. 2 Serena Williams in the quarterfinals and No. 1 Dinara Safina in the final.
What makes Keys' title all the more impressive is that in five of her seven matches, she had to play a third set. Only her first round victory over Ann Li (6-4, 7-5) and third round victory over No. 10 Danielle Collins (6-4, 6-4) were straight set victories. It could have easily ended in the second round for Keys in her match against qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse, as she narrowly won 7-6, 2-6, 7-5. Many times did Keys bend during her two weeks in Australia, but she never broke. She always found ways to come through and pull out the win. And in tennis, that's all that matters. It doesn't matter if your win is pretty, ugly, easy, or tough. What matters is if you win and Keys' run in Australia is a reminder of that.
A major reason why Keys was able to win the tournament was her service game and ability to win break points. Her 34 aces led the tournament while her 29 break points ranked 4th. When she really needed to hold her serve or break her opponents' serve, she was able to deliver the goods.
Another factor that I think helped Keys was the rule change allowing players to talk to their coaches during the match and actually be present courtside. Her conversations with her coach/husband Bjorn Fratangelo seemed to really help calm her down and keep her focused. Tennis is very much a mental game and allowing coaches to talk to their players is something that is going to help a lot of players mentally. Keys certainly benefited from that.
After years of wondering whether or not Keys could win a grand slam, we now have our answer. The question now is how many can she win? She's ranked No. 7 in the world for the first time since October 2016 and should have a good deal of confidence going forward. Turning 30 in February, Keys has plenty of time to win some more grand slams. It'll be fascinating to see if she can add to her total.
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