On Saturday, Madison Keys emerged as the 2025 Australian Open champion with a victory over two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
"I kept telling myself to be brave and go for it. Just lay it all out on the line," Keys said. "I almost felt like I was trying to beat her to it. If I wasn't going to go for it, I knew she was going to. It pushed me to thread the needle a little bit more."
The 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win marks the 29-year-old American’s first Grand Slam title after a lengthy road filled with many highs and lows.
Here are five key numbers from her milestone accomplishment Down Under.
46
Since turning professional at the tender age of 14, Keys won her first major in her 46th Grand Salm appearance — the third most behind Flavia Pennetta (49) and Marion Bartoli (47).
“I’ve wanted this for so long,” Keys said. “I made my very first Grand Slam semifinal here in Melbourne, so to now have won my first Grand Slam in the same place means the absolute world to me.”
29
Keys, who turns 30 in February, is the fourth-oldest first-time Grand Slam winner in history behind Pennetta (2015 US Open at 33), Ann Jones (1969 Wimbledon at 30), and Francesca Schiavone (2010 Roland Garros at 29). Keys is also the second-oldest first-time women's Australian Open champion since Li Na won in 2014 at the age of 31.
"I've done a lot of work to no longer need [winning a major]," Keys said. “I really wanted it, but it's no longer the thing that was going to define me and kind of letting go of that burden, I finally gave myself the ability to play for it."
5
Before this fortnight in Australia, Keys had appeared in five Grand Slam semifinals. Her first was at the 2015 Australian Open, where she lost to Serena Williams. Her most recent semifinal run was at the 2023 US Open semifinals, where she fell to Sabalenka. Keys was also the finalist at the 2017 US Open, losing to compatriot Sloane Stephens.
4
As the No. 19 seed, Keys was an underdog all tournament long, and her draw reflected her uphill battle. She battled through four Top-10-seeded opponents: Sabalenka, Danielle Collins, Elena Rybakina, and Iga Swiatek. The only other player to accomplish this feat was Evonne Goolagong at Wimbledon in 1980. Goolagong fittingly was the one to award Keys her trophy.
"I really felt like going into each match that if I could just try to go out, play how I wanted to play, I was really just going to give myself the opportunity to try to win the match," Keys said. "I felt like not stressing about things that I couldn't control. I just felt like I was able to play a little bit more free.”
2
In the semifinals, Keys defeated WTA No. 1 Swiatek in a third-set tiebreak before ousting WTA No. 2 Sabalenka in the final. According to UTR Sports INSIGHTS, Keys had a 30% chance of upsetting Sabaleka, based on UTR Ratings and match history, and a solid 46% chance of taking out Swiatek. The wins make Keys the first female singles player to beat the top two seeds at a major since Roland Garros in 2009 when Svetlana Kuznetsova pulled it off.
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