Madison Keys couldn’t defend her Australian Open title but was a victor in keeping her word, as she recently undertook the challenge of completing the bet that she made with fellow American Jessica Pegula during their Australian Open campaign. The friendly wager between the world No. 6 and No. 15 was made for their fourth-round clash at Melbourne Park, with the loser carrying out the dare of the winner.
Madison Keys Delivers Her Promise to Jessica Pegula, Showing Her Horror of Tasting the Dessert
Keys entered the first Grand Slam of the season as the defending champion and the ninth seed and delivered impressive performances, defeating Oleksandra Oliynykova, Ashlyn Krueger, and Karolína Plíšková to reach the fourth round, where she met the sixth-seeded Pegula.
However, before their match, the duo had made a bet, according to which if Pegula lost, she would have to wear a Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift Chiefs jersey, given that her family owns the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, and if Keys lost, then she would have to try Pegula’s pie, a part of her family’s Thanksgiving traditions.
Keys’ unease would have ended at having to try a pie, but Pegula’s pie is served with cheese, giving the dish a mix of sweet and savoury flavours that terrified the former. During their recent episode of “The Player’s Box Podcast”‘, Keys, along with Buffalo, New York native Desirae Krawczyk and Jennifer Brady, reflected on her bravery and attempted the challenge.
To which she added, highlighting her disgust with the dessert, “I’m gonna finally get this over with because it looks gross. So, now it’s not only melted but also kind of cold. So, I feel this is gross. So gross. I don’t like that. Not a fan that it might would probably be better if it wasn’t also like melty cold cheese. It kind of tastes like if you accidentally took a bite of mac and cheese and apple pie at Thanksgiving at the same time.
Keys further added that this challenge would be her unforced error of the week, a section of the podcast where each host unveils a comical or challenging situation they faced in their week, “So, my unforced error this week is losing and having to eat that. I actually think it was worse than I thought it was going to be.”
Madison Keys finally tried apple pie with cheddar 😭😭
« It’s worse than I thought, it looks like vomit » pic.twitter.com/Jp4Fw4B9WX
— Camille (@tenniscamfr) February 3, 2026
Keys continued to clearly regret the bet, expressing her harrowing experience, light-heartedly laughing along with the other hosts, “I’ve literally for the last 4 days been like, ‘It’s fine. ‘ Like, apples and cheese go together. Like, it’ll be okay. It’ll be fine.’ And then I microwaved it and it looks like vomit. And I was like, ‘This is this might be worse than I think.’ A bet is a bet, and I pay up. I would like to move on from this tough moment in my life. Please.”
Her last year’s campaign at Melbourne Park was the highlight of her career, as Keys had clinched her first Grand Slam title after defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final, a three-set thriller.
