From a teenage prodigy to a tour stalwart with “gnarly” accidents, Madison Keys’ street to Grand Slam glory has been lengthy and complex.
The newly-crowned Australian Open champion broke by on the WTA Tour when she was simply 14 and was immediately tipped as a future main winner.
Now, a couple of weeks earlier than her thirtieth birthday, the American has lastly achieved her objective.
Keys capped a formidable run at Melbourne Park with a shock win over two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s closing.
“From a reasonably younger age, I felt like if I by no means gained a Grand Slam then I would not have lived as much as what individuals thought I ought to have been,” Keys mentioned.
“That was a reasonably heavy burden to hold round.”
Keys’ journey to the Melbourne title has not been simple.
In April 2009, aged 14 years and 48 days, she grew to become the youngest participant since Martina Hingis in 1994 to win a Tour-level match.
Six years later she reached the Australian Open semi-finals earlier than going a step additional on the 2017 US Open.
However Keys froze in her first main closing. She gained simply three video games towards Sloane Stephens in a match she considered “endlessly for the previous eight years”.
Though she has reached 5 different main semi-finals since, Keys has battled damage issues and dropped out of the world’s prime 50 in 2022
“I needed to undergo some robust issues,” mentioned Keys, who will now rise to seventh on this planet.
“It pressured me to have a look at myself within the mirror and attempt to work on the inner strain I used to be placing on myself.
“I lastly received to the purpose the place I used to be pleased with myself and my profession, with or and not using a Grand Slam.
“I really feel like letting go of that type of inner discuss gave me the power to exit and play some actually good tennis.”