"I haven't had a drink of water" - Madison Keys reveals inside details of her post-Australian Open struggles
Madison Keys recently found out the struggles of becoming a Grand Slam champion as she went for hours without a shower, food or water right after winning the Australian Open title. Keys defeated reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka for her maiden Grand Slam title in January and became the oldest first-time women's Australian Open champion.
Keys was surprised to find out the rigours of winning a Major as she had to do a bunch of interviews right after she left the court. It was nearly an hour later that she finally got the time to sip on some water, and it wasn’t until much later into the night that she had a chance to take a shower and change into fresh clothes.
Speaking with former World No. 1 Rennae Stubbs, Keys shared about the proceedings right after her career’s biggest triumph and the week that followed.
“Immediately from the court, I went and did six live TV interviews in a row. I hadn't even showered yet and had no food. At one point, I was like, “I am so thirsty. I haven't had a drink of water. It's been like an hour.” I did that, and then finally had 20 minutes and had drug testing after that. I finally took a shower, shovelled food in my face and did another two hours of media. We got back to the hotel at almost three and of course then I'm like, “I can't sleep!”” said Madison Keys on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast (3:43 onwards).
Keys finally slept around 5 am, only to wake up at 8 am for another round of media interactions. She wrapped up all her media commitments by noon, packed her bags and left for New York.
“I was just a zombie. I was so happy, but also, it was like I hadn't even taken a breath and absorbed anything that happened. Then we flew to New York, and I had an entire day of press. I got back to Florida on Tuesday night. Before the season had even started, we had agreed to do one of the commitments that I had to do was for that Wednesday," she said.
“So I landed and had to go back in and do more stuff the next day. It was probably Thursday night when I finally said to my agent, “I'm done. I can't; I'm putting my phone in a drawer. I cannot talk to anyone else. I can't be on my phone. It's going in a drawer. If anyone needs me, call Bjorn. I'll talk to everyone on my day (laughs)," Keys added.
Madison Keys to play at Indian Wells, first tournament since Australian Open triumph
Madison Keys will return to the tennis circuit this week when she competes at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. This will be the American’s first tournament since her Australian Open triumph in January. Keys, 30, had beaten Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in a rollercoaster contest in Melbourne to become first player since Serena Williams in 2005 to beat the World No. 1 and World No. 2 enroute to a Grand Slam title.
Keys, who has attained a career-high ranking of World No. 6, confirmed her participation in the season’s first WTA 1000 event by sharing a mirror selfie on her Instagram last weekend with the Indian Wells location tag, confirming that she had indeed reached California for the tournament.
Madison Keys, who is coached by her husband Bjorn Fratangelo, will begin her BNP Paribas Open campaign on Friday, March 7, in the round of 64.