After 'existential crisis' following her fist major title, Keys continues winning ways in Indian Wells
What's next after you accomplish a lifelong goal before turning 30?
For Madison Keys, who won her long-awaited first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, the immediate answer was three days on her couch.
"It was really emotionally draining," Keys said ahead of her return to competition Saturday in Indian Wells, as quoted in a recent ESPN article. "I mean, you were just experiencing the highest of highs and then you come home and it just kind of ends. I was basically comatose just trying to recover. It was an amazing achievement, I was so happy, but the emotional roller coaster afterwards was a little bit surprising."
She likened the feeling to the day after her November wedding to coach Bjorn Fratangelo: "It's like there's all this planning, all this buildup, and then you wake up the next morning and you go, 'Wait, it's over?'"
Regular work with a psychologist, which she began a year ago, has helped Keys manage the "existential crisis" she said other players warned her about. Rather than jump straight back into competition, she enjoyed an extended period at home near Orlando, Fla., and trained at the USTA National Campus with young Americans.
Six weeks after beating Aryna Sabalenka to win the Aussie Open title, Keys made her return to the WTA Tour at Indian Wells. Entering the WTA 1000 event at a career-high of world No. 5, she began with a straightforward victory against Anastasia Potapova.
"I'm so happy to be here," Keys, now 30, said in an interview on center court after the match.
Madison Keys at Indian Wells. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images.
"Australia was obviously an amazing moment, so it's really nice to be playing at home for my first tournament back at a place I've played at so many times in front of some amazing people."
That routine opening win was followed by two gutsy victories against 28th seed Elise Mertens and 19th seed Donna Vekic. In a 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4 result against Mertens, Keys was forced into a deciding set after leading 5-3 in the second and holding four match points.
On Wednesday against Vekic, she was two points from defeat in an eventual 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 victory, trailing 5-3 in the second-set tiebreak. After surviving the extended breaker, she jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the final frame and never looked back. Keys dropped serve just once across the second and third sets.
With her winning streak now up to 15 matches, dating back to the start of her Adelaide title run in January, Keys is just the fifth woman age 30 or older to post such a run. She joins Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams on that illustrious list.
Through to a fourth consecutive WTA quarterfinal for the first time in her career, Keys will next meet Belinda Bencic on Thursday in Indian Wells. A victory would see her break new ground once again this season: Her best previous run at Tennis Paradise was a quarterfinal showing in 2022.
Three years after Taylor Fritz won the men's singles title in Indian Wells, Keys is bidding to become the first American women's singles champ since Williams in 2001.
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