Read More: Madison Keys wins Australian Open in Aryna Sabalenka upset
And what do you think happened next? She went out and, 14 years after her quest began, won her first major, in the most dramatic and well-earned way possible. In the semis and the final, she beat the two top-ranked players in the world, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, back to back, 7-6 in the third and 7-5 in the third.
“I feel like finally letting go of that kind of internal talk that I had just gave me the ability to actually go out and play some really good tennis to actually win a Grand Slam,” she said after beating Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
It was fitting, and maybe a little extra nerve-wracking, that Keys’ biggest win would come against the opponent who had handed her perhaps her most painful defeat. Two years ago at the US Open, she led Sabalenka 6-0, 5-3 in the US Open semifinals, only to lose in a final-set tiebreaker. Keys said it taken a long time to “heal” from that defeat at her home Slam.
Now, with another shot at Sabalenka, she had again blitzed her way to a first-set win, and out-hit the WTA’s other biggest hitter. But the world No. 1, as expected, turned that around in the second set. As the two began to trade holds in the third, Sabalenka looked like the favorite again. She was the one who had been in this position and held her nerve before.
Still, there was a moment that hinted that, this time, things might end differently.
