Madison Keys

At 29 years old, Madison Keys has this physical status:

When Keys was 12 years old, she went 23–2 in her girls 12s matches, including a perfect 19–0 in 2007. Her most notable title was a victory at the 12-and-under Junior Orange Bowl. At the age of 13, Keys began competing in 18-and-under ITF events. In January 2009, she won the Copa del Café, a high-level Grade 1 tournament in Costa Rica, to become the first American winner of the girls' event in its 26-year history. Later that year, her coach John Evert remarked that, "She's got weapons at a very young age. Most of the top players in the world have weapons, but it takes some time to develop them. Madison at the age of 14 can hit her serve or her forehand as big as most of the girls, and some of the top girls, on the pro tour."

As a 15-year-old, Keys played in just five ITF Junior Circuit events, instead opting to play in eight ITF Pro Circuit events over the same period. Her best result that year was winning both the singles and doubles titles at the Grade B1 Pan American Closed ITF Championships, which is the highest level of regional tournament on the junior tour. After the 2011 US Open, Keys moved to the pro tour full-time. She was ranked No. 16 in the ITF junior rankings at the time, a personal best. At this stage of her career, she was already 5' 10", serving at 115 miles per hour (185 km/h), and could hit strong forehand and backhand winners.

Professional career

Keys turned pro in February 2009 on her 14th birthday. She made her WTA Tour debut a few months later at the Ponte Vedra Beach Championships, having only played in one previous professional tournament where she lost her only match. In her debut, she defeated world No. 81, Alla Kudryavtseva, in straight sets. At the age of 14 years and 48 days, she became the 7th-youngest player ever to win a WTA tour-level match and the youngest since Martina Hingis in 1994. Top seed Nadia Petrova knocked Keys out of the tournament in the next round. Due to the tour's age restriction policy, she was unable to enter another WTA tournament that year. Nonetheless, Keys found another opportunity to play against the top professionals by participating in the World TeamTennis league as a member of the Philadelphia Freedoms. Still only 14 years old, she beat Serena Williams in a set to five games. Williams was ranked No. 2 in the world at the time and had just won Wimbledon earlier that month.

During her early years, Keys played mostly on the ITF Circuit, where she won three titles in singles and one in doubles. Her next opportunity to play on the WTA Tour came in March 2011, when she was awarded a wild card into the Miami Open. Keys was defeated by No. 41, Patty Schnyder, in the first round, despite having a chance to serve for the match. Several months later, Keys won an invitational playoff to earn one of the American wild card spots in the main draw of the US Open. She defeated fellow American Jill Craybas in her Grand Slam tournament debut to become the youngest match winner at the event in six years at the age of 16. Keys also won an invitational playoff to compete at the 2012 Australian Open but was unable to get past the first round.

Keys began the year ranked No. 149 in the world. Having made it to relatively few WTA main draws in previous years, Keys played only tour-level events in 2013. At the Sydney International, Keys reached the quarterfinals of a WTA event for the first time, defeating Lucie Šafářová and Zheng Jie, the two players who had beaten her in her first two majors. For the second straight year, Keys won the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff. At the Australian Open, she beat Casey Dellacqua and No. 30 Tamira Paszek to reach the third round, before bowing out to No. 5, Angelique Kerber. With this success, she entered the top 100 of the WTA rankings at No. 81 a month before turning 18.

In the clay-court season, Keys reached another quarterfinal at the Charleston Open before losing to Venus Williams, one of her childhood idols, in their first-ever meeting. She next played at the Madrid Open and defeated world No. 6 Li Na, not long after nearly beating her in Sydney earlier in the year. This was Keys's first victory over a top 10 opponent. Keys concluded the clay-court season with a second-round appearance in her French Open debut. At Wimbledon, she used a second consecutive third-round appearance to break into the top 50.

Keys had a relatively quiet stretch following Wimbledon. In October, she finished her season at the Japan Open in Osaka, where she reached her first WTA semifinal. She lost to the eventual champion Samantha Stosur. After a successful year on the tour, Keys finished the year ranked No. 37, an improvement of over 100 places from the start of the season.

In Keys' second tournament of the year, she returned to the Sydney International and made her first Premier semifinal. She cruised past No. 11, Simona Halep, in the first round before losing to No. 9, Angelique Kerber. She next played at the Australian Open, but was upset by Zheng Jie in the second round after dropping a double break advantage in the final set. In February, Keys made her Fed Cup debut against Italy. She lost her only singles match to Camila Giorgi but managed to win the dead rubber doubles match with Lauren Davis as the United States lost the tie. Keys again participated in Fed Cup in April. The United States lost this tie to France 3–2 and were bounced from the top-tier World Group. Keys won her first Fed Cup match against Alizé Cornet but was unable to win her next singles match or the decisive doubles rubber with Sloane Stephens.

Keys entered the Internationaux de Strasbourg having won back-to-back matches just once since Sydney. She was able to regain her form in France and reached the semifinal at the tournament. At the French Open, she drew tenth-seed Sara Errani, a clay court specialist, and lost in the first round. In the grass court season, Keys won her first WTA title at the Eastbourne International, a Premier-level tournament. She defeated two top ten players at the event, No. 7 Jelena Janković in the first round and No. 9 Kerber in the final. This was her only ever victory over Kerber, who would dominate Keys in their future matches. During the final, she also hit a 126 miles per hour (203 km/h) serve, which would have been the fifth fastest ever on record in women's tennis history if the tournament was officially collecting serve speed data. The title made the 19-year-old Keys the youngest American titlist since Vania King in 2006 and the first teenage titlist since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009. Keys maintained that form to reach the third round at Wimbledon but was forced to retire due to a leg injury.

Keys won less than half of her matches the remainder of the season. One of her best results came at the Cincinnati Open, where she beat an in-form Cornet, before pushing No. 6 Maria Sharapova to three sets in the second round. At the US Open, Keys was seeded for the first time at a major at No. 27 but suffered a disappointing second round loss to qualifier Aleksandra Krunić. She closed the year by reaching the quarterfinals at the Japan Open. Keys maintained a steady ranking inside the top 50 throughout the year and finished the season at No. 31 in the world.

In the off-season, Keys began working with former world No. 1, Lindsay Davenport, as well as her husband Jon Leach. With her new coaching team, Keys made her breakthrough into the upper echelon of women's tennis at the Australian Open. She upset reigning Wimbledon champion and No. 4, Petra Kvitová, in straight sets in the third round. In the quarterfinals, Keys got a second opportunity to face off against Venus Williams, who was ranked No. 18 in the world. She defeated Venus for the first time in a tight three-set match, despite injuring her left thigh in the middle of the second set. This set up a clash with world No. 1, Serena Williams, in the semifinals. After a very tight first set, Keys ultimately lost in straight sets. After the match, Serena, who eventually went on to capture the title, spoke of a bright future for Keys, saying, "It was an honor for me to play someone who will be No. 1 in the future." With her first major semifinal, Keys climbed into the top 20 for the first time.

Keys was unable to carry her momentum through the early-year hardcourt season. Nonetheless, she continued to impress once the clay-court season came around. She reached the final at the Charleston Open, losing to Angelique Kerber after conceding a 4–1 lead in the third set. As the 16th seed at the French Open, Keys made it to the third round before falling to 23rd seed Timea Bacsinszky, in straight sets. She then continued her series of strong performances at majors by reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

At the US Open, Keys advanced to the fourth round, where she was defeated by Serena Williams at a major for the second time this year. Keys finished the season with a high enough ranking to qualify for the inaugural WTA Elite Trophy, a year-end tournament similar to the top-tier WTA Finals for the top-ranked players who did not qualify for those higher level finals. Keys finished in second place in her three-person round-robin group, ahead of Zheng Saisai whom she beat and behind top overall seed Venus Williams whom she lost to in a close match. As the group winner, Venus was the only player to advance to the finals and ultimately won the tournament. After the season was over, Keys split from her coaching team in order to find a full-time coach, a role Davenport was unable to fulfill due to commitments to her family and to her job as a commentator.

Keys began the year ranked No. 18 in the world. She reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, where she lost to qualifier Zhang Shuai in a match where she was ahead up until she started to experience pain in her leg in the second set. She did not play again until the Indian Wells Open. At the Miami Open, Keys produced another good result with her first quarterfinal at a Premier Mandatory event.

During the clay-court season, Keys hired Thomas Högstedt to be her coach. She would drop Jesse Levine, who had been coaching her since the start of the year, from her team within the next few weeks. Her new partnership quickly proved to be successful with Keys reaching the final at the Italian Open leading up to the French Open, her first final at a Premier 5 event and the biggest of her career. During the event, she defeated two top ten players in No. 9 Petra Kvitová and No. 4 Garbiñe Muguruza. She lost in the final to compatriot and world No. 1, Serena Williams, in straight sets. At the French Open, Keys won her first three matches in straight sets before unexpectedly falling to unseeded Kiki Bertens in the fourth round.

Nonetheless, Keys followed up a strong clay court season with an excellent grass-court season, highlighted by her second career title at the Birmingham Classic. With this victory at a Premier-level event, she moved into the top ten for the first time in her career at the age of 21, becoming the first American woman to do so since Serena Williams in 1999. Compatriots CoCo Vandeweghe and Sloane Stephens followed suit with their own top ten debuts in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Seeded No. 9 at Wimbledon, Keys advanced to the fourth round, where she was defeated by No. 5 Simona Halep despite winning the first set. Later that month, Keys reached her second consecutive Premier 5 final at the Canadian Open in Montreal, where she again lost to Halep. Her next tournament was the Olympic singles event in Rio de Janeiro. As the No. 7 seed, Keys reached the semifinals, where she was eliminated by Kerber. She then lost the bronze medal match to Kvitová in three sets, narrowly missing out on a medal.

At the US Open as the 8th seed, Keys was able to reach the fourth round after a miraculous comeback against teenager Naomi Osaka in her third round match, where she overcame a 5–1 deficit in the third set. She then lost to Caroline Wozniacki, thereby exiting all four Grand Slam tournaments that year in the fourth round. Nonetheless, Keys was still in contention for a spot in the WTA Finals in Singapore, being ranked No. 9 at the time with the top eight in the WTA rankings getting invited to the event. She stayed in the race by making the quarterfinals at the Wuhan Open. She then reached the semifinals in back-to-back weeks at the China Open in Beijing and the Linz Open in Austria. As a result, she was able to qualify for Singapore a week before the tournament. Making her debut at the event, Keys defeated Dominika Cibulková but lost her other two matches. She did not advance out of the round-robin stage, with Cibulková instead making it to the final rounds through the tiebreak criteria and ultimately winning the event. Keys finished the year ranked No. 8 in the world, becoming the first American other than the Williams sisters to finish a year with a top 10 ranking since Lindsay Davenport in 2005. Despite her successful year, Keys ended her partnership with coach Högstedt in November.

Before the beginning of the season, Keys had surgery to repair her injured left wrist, which she hurt over a year earlier at the 2015 US Open. She was aware of the injury in the middle of 2016 and was planning on having surgery after the 2016 US Open. However, she decided to delay surgery in order to attempt to qualify for the year-end WTA Finals for the first time. Also during the off-season, Keys rekindled her relationship with Davenport and brought her back as her primary coach.

Due to surgery, Keys missed the Australian Open and did not return to the tennis scene until March at the Indian Wells Open. Although she would make it to the third round at the tournament, Keys would begin a long period of struggles that lasted deep into the summer. During this period, she also had a second surgery on her wrist after the French Open. Keys did not win back-to-back matches again until the Stanford Classic in August. By this point, her ranking had fallen out of the top 20. Despite entering the Premier-level tournament with only six wins on the season, Keys won the event after knocking out Wimbledon champion Garbiñe Muguruza in the semifinals and close friend CoCo Vandeweghe in the final in their first ever meeting. This was her third career title. Keys then defeated Vandeweghe in her very next match at the Cincinnati Open, but this time she was stopped by Muguruza in the third round.

Keys next played at the US Open. In the fourth round, she upset fourth seed Elina Svitolina to join fellow Americans CoCo Vandeweghe, Sloane Stephens, and Venus Williams in the quarterfinals. All four of them would win their matches to set up an all-American semifinal. This was the first time four Americans made the semifinals at a major since Wimbledon in 1985 and the first occurrence at the US Open since 1979. In the semifinals, Keys defeated Vandeweghe for the third time in a little over a month, losing just three games. Stephens won the other semifinal. These victories made Keys and Stephens the first Americans other than the Williams sisters to reach a women's Grand Slam tournament final since Keys's coach Lindsay Davenport in 2005. Bidding to become the first American US Open champion other than the Williams sisters since Davenport in 1998, Keys lost in the final to her close friend in straight sets.

Keys entered the year having played in just one tournament since the US Open final. At the first major of the year, Keys defeated No. 8 Caroline Garcia to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the second time. In this round, she lost to Angelique Kerber, one of her most difficult opponents. Outside of the Australian Open, Keys won just one match in the first three months of the year. She ended the early-year hardcourt season with a retirement due to a left thigh injury against Victoria Azarenka at the Miami Open in Azarenka's comeback tournament.

In April, Keys returned to Fed Cup competition in the semifinal against France. She defeated Pauline Parmentier in her only match to clinch the tie and put the United States in the final. At the French Open, Keys produced the best result of her career at the tournament. She reached the semifinals without dropping a set to set up a rematch of the 2017 US Open final with Sloane Stephens. This was the first all-American semifinal at the French Open since 2002. Keys again lost to Stephens in straight sets. She only played one grass-court event, losing in the third round at Wimbledon.

In the latter half of the season, Keys struggled with different injuries and also was competing without a primary coach. She did not attempt to defend her title at the Silicon Valley Classic, withdrawing due to a right wrist injury before the start of the event. Keys only played in one tournament during the US Open Series, reaching the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Open. During the event, she snapped a five-match losing streak against reigning Wimbledon champion and world No. 4, Angelique Kerber. At the US Open, Keys made it to the semifinals while dropping just one set. However, she was unable to reach the final for a second straight year after losing to the eventual champion Naomi Osaka. Keys could not convert any of her 13 break points during the match. Following the US Open, Keys played in three tournaments during the Asian hardcourt season and needed to withdraw or retire from all three due to a left knee injury. At the WTA Elite Trophy, she advanced out of her round-robin group through the tiebreak criteria after defeating Daria Kasatkina and losing to hometown favorite Wang Qiang. However, she decided to cede her spot in the semifinals to Wang due to injury. She also did not make herself available for the Fed Cup final, which a short-handed United States team lost to the Czech Republic. Keys finished the season ranked No. 17 in the world.

Keys began the season at the Australian Open, where she lost in the fourth round to Elina Svitolina. She only played in two more tournaments during the early-year hardcourt season, losing her opening matches at both the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open. Nonetheless, Keys was able to bounce back in the clay-court season. After returning to her former coach Juan Todero, she won her first career WTA clay-court title at the Charleston Open. During the tournament, she recorded her first wins over Sloane Stephens and Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals and the final, respectively, despite having never won a set against either player. She continued her clay-court success at the French Open, where she lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion, Ashleigh Barty.

Despite entering the Cincinnati Open in August on a three-match losing streak, and having won multiple matches at just three events all season, Keys won the tournament for her first Premier 5 title, and the fifth of her career. She upset No. 4 and reigning Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in the third round, having lost five consecutive matches against the Romanian, before defeating Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. With the title, Keys returned to the top 10 for the first time since June 2018. At her next two tournaments, Keys won multiple matches as well. She reached the fourth round of the US Open, establishing a career-high nine match winning streak, before losing to Svitolina for the second time at a major this year. She then retired against Angelique Kerber in the third set of the quarterfinals at the Pan Pacific Open and lost to compatriot Jennifer Brady in the second round at the China Open. Keys closed out her season at the WTA Elite Trophy. With a loss to Zheng Saisai and a win over Petra Martić, she finished tied for first in her round robin group, but did not advance due to the tiebreak criteria. She ended the year ranked No. 13 in the world, her fifth consecutive year-end top 20 ranking.

Keys started the season strongly by reaching the final at the Brisbane International, her first career final during the early hard court season. She defeated former Grand Slam champions Samantha Stosur and Petra Kvitová en route before falling to Karolína Plíšková in a tight three-set match. Seeded tenth at the Australian Open, Keys recorded straight set victories Daria Kasatkina and Arantxa Rus in her first two matches but fell to 20th seed Maria Sakkari in the third round.

Keys did not play the rest of the early hardcourt season and was next scheduled to play in Indian Wells, but play was suspended before the tournament began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the tour resumed in August, Keys made her return at the Western & Southern Open where she was the defending champion. However, she lost her opening match to Ons Jabeur in the second round after receiving a bye in the first. Due to several of the top 10 players withdrawing from the US Open citing safety concerns, Keys was seeded seventh and considered a serious contender for the title. She breezed through her first two matches, winning in straight sets over Tímea Babos and Aliona Bolsova. Unfortunately in the third round, after losing the first-set tiebreak and serving at 2–3 in the second set against Alizé Cornet, Keys was forced to retire from the match due to a neck injury, marking her earliest exit from the US Open since 2014, snapping a streak of five consecutive runs to the second week. She recovered in time to play at the French Open, where she was seeded twelfth. However she was upset in the first round by Zhang Shuai in straight sets, marking the first time Keys lost in the opening round at a major since the 2014 French Open. She ended the year ranked No. 16 in the world, her sixth consecutive year-end top 20 ranking.

Seeded 25th, Keys reached the fourth round at Wimbledon defeating 13th seed Elise Mertens, in straight sets.

She made her debut at the US Open in mixed doubles with Bjorn Fratangelo, whom she began dating four years ago.

After opening her season with a second round loss to Daria Kasatkina at the Melbourne Summer Set 2, Keys rebounded by winning her first title since August 2019 at the 2022 Adelaide International 2, defeating compatriot Alison Riske in the final with victories over Elina Svitolina and Coco Gauff in earlier rounds. Unseeded at the Australian Open, she reached the semifinals for the second time, defeating, in order, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, eighth seed Paula Badosa and fourth seed Barbora Krejčíková along the way. She lost to world number one and eventual champion Ashleigh Barty in the semifinals. Nonetheless, by virtue of reaching her fifth career Grand Slam semifinal (and her first since the 2018 US Open), she rose back inside the top 30 for the first time since August 2021 as well as equaled her match win total from the previous year.

Continuing the early hard-court season, Keys lost both of her opening matches at her next two tournaments in Mexico, but rebounded at Indian Wells. After receiving a first-round bye, she defeated Misaki Doi, Riske, and Harriet Dart to reach her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal since her 2019 Cincinnati title. Although she was beaten by eventual champion Iga Świątek in a lopsided match (winning only one game), it marked her best finish in Indian Wells to date. Her next tournament in Miami ended quickly though, falling to Anhelina Kalinina in her second-round match.

Keys began her clay-court season in Charleston once again. Although seeded ninth in the draw, she received a first-round bye after defending champion Veronika Kudermetova withdrew just before the first day of play commenced. She easily defeated Ulrikke Eikeri in straight sets before succumbing to reigning Olympic gold medalist and eventual champion Belinda Bencic in the third round. Beginning the European clay-court swing in Madrid, Keys received an unlucky draw, ultimately falling short against world No. 5, Maria Sakkari, in a tight three-setter.

Seeded 22nd, at the French Open she reached the fourth round in singles where she beat 16th seed Rybakina in the third round before losing to 29th seed Kudermetova but had more success in doubles where she reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career with Taylor Townsend as a protected ranking pair on their debut. As a result she returned to the top 25 in the singles rankings and reached the top 100 in doubles at world No. 98, on 6 June 2022.

At the Canadian Open, she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 level for the first time in doubles, partnering Sania Mirza where they defeated top seeds Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova. Next they defeated Sofia Kenin and Yulia Putintseva to reach the semifinals.

At the 2022 Western & Southern Open she reached the quarterfinals defeating top seed Iga Swiatek in straight sets after five unsuccessful attempts to victory over the reigning world No. 1. Next she defeated reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to reach her ninth career semifinal at a WTA 1000 level before losing to Petra Kvitová.

Seeded 20th, at the US Open, Keys was defeated by Coco Gauff in straight sets.

Career statistics

Note: Keys received a walkover in the second round of the 2014 French Open, which does not officially count as a win.

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