Keys revealed that it wasn’t actually sports psychology or mental coaches that helped her get her mind right—it was all about talk therapy, which she says provided benefits on and off the court.
Q. (Was) there a moment or a person you spoke to where the penny dropped and you felt like you feel now, that it wasn’t all about whether you won a Grand Slam?
MADISON KEYS: Lots of therapy (smiling). I really kind of bought into it. I think in the past I had always kind of tried to go the sports therapy route where it was more about routine and controlling things you can control and all of that.
I felt like I was always good enough at that, but to really start kind of digging in on how I felt about myself and really being honest with myself about it… It was really hard because I didn’t really want to be the person that felt like I was really struggling, but I was starting to really struggle with it.
So just being really honest and actually getting help and actually talking to someone, and not just about tennis but about how I felt about myself. Again, very uncomfortable. I never really like to be uncomfortable (smiling).
I honestly think that had I not done that, then I wouldn’t be sitting here.
