By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday January 15, 2022
After a difficult 2021, Madison Keys is in a far better mental place, and it shows.
Madison Keys is all about the vibes in 2022, and the vibes are good.
The 87th-ranked American stormed to the Adelaide title on Saturday, toppling compatriot Alison Riske, 6-1 6-2 to claim her sixth career title. As the former World No. 7 said on Friday after her hard-fought three-set win over Coco Gauff, the American is just eager to find her love for tennis again.
“I am just really enjoying tennis again and trying to not act as if every match is the last match that I'll ever play in my life,” she said. “I'm just really, really happy to be out on the court, fighting as hard as I can, and for the most part being pretty cool and calm.”
Keys says she let the pandemic get to her, and started to worry about her ranking and her results, and it stressed her out.
“I was getting really caught up in what my ranking meant and winning and losing,” she said. “All of a sudden it was like this number next to my name on a single website meant more about me than literally anything else in the world. I just got way too in all of that.”
The American appears to be liberated thus far in 2022. She blasted past Riske and enjoyed a fantastic run that featured wins over Elina Svitolina, Tereza Martincova, Gauff and Riske.
She will face 2020 Australian Open champ Sofia Kenin in the first round at the Australian Open in a match that is shaping up to blockbuster.
“I've kind of just decided to let it go,” Keys said. “I told my boyfriend after I lost last week, I was like, C'est la vie, just vibes, we're vibing out here, it's fine, we're good.”