Keys sheds 'heavy burden' to fulfil teenage expectations
From a teenage prodigy to a tour stalwart with "gnarly" injuries, Madison Keys' road to Grand Slam glory has been long and complicated.
The newly-crowned Australian Open champion broke through on the WTA Tour when she was just 14 and was instantly tipped as a future major winner.
Now, a few weeks before her 30th birthday, the American has finally achieved her goal.
Keys capped an impressive run at Melbourne Park with a shock win over two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday's final.
"From a pretty young age, I felt like if I never won a Grand Slam then I wouldn't have lived up to what people thought I should have been," Keys said.
"That was a pretty heavy burden to carry around."
Keys' journey to the Melbourne title has not been easy.
In April 2009, aged 14 years and 48 days, she became the youngest player since Martina Hingis in 1994 to win a Tour-level match.
Six years later she reached the Australian Open semi-finals before going a step further at the 2017 US Open.
But Keys froze in her first major final. She won just three games against Sloane Stephens in a match she thought of "endlessly for the past eight years".
Although she has reached five other major semi-finals since, Keys has battled injury problems and dropped out of the world's top 50 in 2022
"I had to go through some tough things," said Keys, who will now rise to seventh in the world.
"It forced me to look at myself in the mirror and try to work on the internal pressure I was putting on myself.
"I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and my career, with or without a Grand Slam.
"I feel like letting go of that kind of internal talk gave me the ability to go out and play some really good tennis."
In November, Keys married fellow American player Bjorn Fratangelo, who is also her coach.
As far as post-wedding trips go, it could not have panned out any better.
A powerful and aggressive baseliner, Keys started the 2025 season by winning the Adelaide International and carried that confidence into Melbourne.
"I have the most supportive coach - the best husband in the entire world, who didn't even want to coach me," Keys said.
"It took some arm-twisting. He has fully believed in me every step of the way."
Only three other women have been older than Keys when winning their first Grand Slam title.
Keys thought the chance of lifting a Grand Slam trophy may have passed her by, but her team felt differently.
"I have absolutely the greatest team," Keys said.
"They have really believed in me in the moments that I didn't believe in myself.
"They helped me completely rebuild after some pretty gnarly injuries last year.
"If it wasn't for those people who have been cheering me on through all of the three-set matches, I wouldn't be here."
Sabalenka unleashes frustration to be 'respectful'
Sabalenka was bidding to become only the sixth woman to claim a Melbourne 'three-peat', but ultimately paid the price for a slow start - and a host of double faults.
While she improved in the second and third sets, the top seed was nowhere her imperious best.
After sharing a warm hug with Keys at the net, Sabalenka smashed a racquet and hid beneath her towel before walking off court for a few minutes.
"There definitely was a bit of frustration because I was so close to achieving something crazy," Sabalenka said.
"I needed to throw those negative emotions at the end just so I could give a speech and not stand there being disrespectful.
"I was just trying to let it go and be a good person, be respectful."
