Madison Keys is proof that good issues occur to good individuals.
The veteran American surprised the tennis world Saturday by defeating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to seize the 2025 Australian Open title, ending a 13-year look forward to an elusive grand slam.
The win got here lower than 48 hours after she saved a match point to complete an improbable victory over World No. 2 Iga Swiatek within the semifinal. The 29-year-old Keys has turn into the oldest participant since 1975 to defeat the highest two seeds at a Grand Slam en path to the title. She’s additionally the primary to beat the highest two seeds at a significant since 2009.
Probably the most spectacular facet of Keys’ Cinderella-like run is that she defeated the perfect the tennis world needed to provide. Traditionally, many dark-horse slam winners benefitted from high seeds being ousted within the earlier rounds — Barbora Krejcikova’s 2024 Wimbledon win and Emma Raducanu’s 2023 U.S. Open victory being latest examples.
In Keys’ case, she went via a gauntlet of top-ranked gamers, ousting No. 6 Elena Rybakina and No. 10 Danielle Collins earlier than knocking off Swiatek and Sabalenka. As she received deeper into the draw, Keys reiterated she was dwelling within the second and never considering too far forward. The standard Keys was prepared to depart with her “head held high” as long as she left all of it out on the courtroom in pursuit of her first main.
After her career-defining second on Saturday, Keys echoed lots of these sentiments, noting that she shocked herself together with her unimaginable run at Melbourne Park after considering retirement in 2024.
“I’ve been in a single different Grand Slam last [2017 U.S. Open] and it didn’t go my approach,” an emotional Keys stated on the podium. “I did not know if I used to be ever going to have the ability to get again to this place to attempt to win a trophy once more and my staff believed in me each step of the best way. They believed in me after I did not consider in myself.”
Keys is about to climb to a career-high World No. 7 on Monday, per WTA. She beforehand held that rating for 3 weeks in October 2016.
