Madison Keys won the first Grand Slam title of her career at the 2025 Australian Open by defeating two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the final. The former world No. 5 recently opened up about the pressure that accompanied her first major title and her journey to finding a “new normal.”
Madison Keys Discusses the Pressure She Felt After Winning Her First Grand Slam Title
Keys recently started her run on the clay-court swing of the tour and is currently competing at the 2026 Charleston Open. She is seeded fifth in the tournament and began her campaign in the second round after receiving a first-round bye. In her opening match, she faced qualifier Donna Vekić and won 6-2, 6-3.
Following her victory over Vekić, while speaking to Tennis Channel’s Alison Riske-Amritraj and Steve Weissman, Keys opened up about winning her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne last year. She shared that it took her a long time to “justify” her career and feel content in her achievements before winning the major title. However, she also mentioned the “pressure” that came with that victory.
“You know, it’s been a little bit of a balancing act. It obviously took a lot of work to get to the point of no longer feeling like I needed it to kind of justify my career, and then I got it. And then it’s a lot, the kind of immediate questions. What do you do next? What do you want next? And a lot of that pressure kind of came,” Keys said.
The former world No. 5 mentioned that much of the pressure she felt came from herself as she tried to establish a “new normal” after winning the Grand Slam title. She said that this transition has been more challenging than she anticipated. However, she stated that she is gradually becoming more comfortable and is readjusting to life after her Grand Slam victory.
“I think a lot of it came from myself and just kind of finding my new normal has been a little bit more difficult than I maybe anticipated it being. I think I’m finally really kind of starting to find my stride again and feel very comfortable, just readjusting and saying, okay, if I only win one Grand Slam, that’s amazing too,” she added.
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Looking ahead, Keys is scheduled to take on Anna Bondár in the third round of the 2026 Charleston Open. The Hungarian reached this stage by eliminating lucky loser Darja Vidmanova (7-5, 7-5) and 11th seed Magdalena Fręch (7-5, 6-3) in the first and second rounds, respectively.
Keys and Bondár have never competed against each other on the WTA Tour, so their upcoming third-round match at the WTA 500 tournament will be their first encounter. The winner of this match will advance to face either the fourth seed, Iva Jovic, or the 16th seed, Sofia Kenin, in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
