By Chris Oddo | Monday July 3, 2017
Madison Keys advanced at Wimbledon with a straight sets win over Japan's Nao Hibino.
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
The worst may finally be behind Madison Keys. The 22-year-old has dealt with painful wrist injury for the better part of two seasons, but after a second surgery in late May Keys rushed back to the tour, against the behest of her team, to make her fifth appearance at Wimbledon.
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On Monday, just as she has in her other four appearances, Keys captured a first-round triumph by taking out Nao Hibino, 6-4, 6-2.
“I will say no one on my team wanted me to play here, so coming out and having a good match and hitting some good backhands kind of eased everyone's minds a bit,” Keys told reporters after the match.
Keys says she has a clean bill of health and is no longer bothered by the pain in her left wrist that plagued her prior to the second surgery. Keys told WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen that the second surgery was done to remove a rogue nerve that had lodged into scar tissue on the area to cause terrible pain.
"My doctor removed a lot of the scar tissue, loosened it up, and then took fat from my stomach and injected it in my wrist. I couldn't do anything for 10 days,” she told Nguyen.
She appeared to be thrilled about the turn in her fortunes on Monday, beaming as she spoke to reporters and smiling from ear-to-ear.
With low expectations, Keys could be a possible dark horse in a Wimbledon draw without last year’s Champion Serena Williams.
“There's really no expectations here,” she said. “It's just pure happiness that I was able to get myself healthy enough to play here.”
Keys has reached at least the third round in all four of her Wimbledon appearances. She’ll try to make it five years in a row when she faces Italy’s Camila Giorgi next.
“Obviously it's going to be quick rallies and pretty much who gets a good first strike. Yeah, you never really know. Sometimes she'll hit a winner and sometimes she won't,” Keys said with a smile.