“My whole goal today was that no matter what, win or lose, I walked away and said that I did what I wanted to do, I followed the game plan, I went for things when I should have gone for things.”
Keys made those changes with her coach and husband, Bjorn Fratangelo. This year was the first at the Australian Open where coaches have been placed in the corners of the court, and Fratangelo’s presence there seemed to give Keys a boost, and keep the game plan front and center in her mind.
We’ve seen a number of players in recent years get a new lease on their careers at age 30; maybe Keys will be the next one. On Saturday, she’ll play her first Grand Slam title match since 2017, against Sabalenka.
After this match, though, she wasn’t quite ready to think about that. Her brain, Keys said, was racing to catch up with what she had just done.
When it did, she laughed and said something she had been waiting a long time to say Down Under:
I’m in the finals!
