Q. I was curious how you would assess how your relationship with clay courts have evolved over the years because obviously you’ve had some really great results on clay, but I would imagine you probably still prefer hard and grass and how that mentality takes you into the season each year?
MADISON KEYS: I have grown to not dislike clay. I think when I first started, it kind of always felt like it was slower. I think at the start of my career I kind of would try to change who I was as a tennis player. And I felt like I lost my own tennis identity throughout the clay swing, and then you get back on grass and you just kind of feel like everything is front-foot tennis.
So, I think over the years I’ve stopped trying to make these drastic changes to how I play tennis. It’s just the smaller tweaks and how can you actually use the court to help your game. And, honestly, I think I almost like clay better than grass. Right? Crazy, I know!
Keys later clarified that, to be fair, Wimbledon’s grass has gotten slower over the years.
“Queen’s Club is still pretty fast,” she told me before filming a video for the tournament’s social media page.
And indeed, one could look at four-time Roland Garros winner Iga Swiatek’s run to the 2025 Wimbledon title and think Keys may not be far off.
A champion in Charleston back in 2019, Keys is closing in on a second green-clay title as she awaits the winner of either McCartney Kessler or Yuliia Starodubtseva.
