The biggest supporter of Madison Keys

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When Madison Keys played her first Grand Slam final at the US Open in 2017, her relationship with Bjorn Fratangelo was based on a simple friendship. Eight years later, after becoming husband and wife last November, the American's resume shines with the arrival of the title at the Australian Open 2025, the most impressive tournament of her career. Now that the waters are calmer, it is worth listening to the story of how a love relationship ended up encompassing a professional relationship, giving rise to one of the biggest surprises that the women's circuit has given us in recent years. Did you ever imagine that Keys still had room to win a Grand Slam? Well, there was one person who did.

Let's go back to the beginning, to the moment when Fratangelo decided to end his professional career after an injury that ended up consuming all hope. The Pennsylvanian, who will turn 32 in July, recounts in a conversation with ATP how the possibility of becoming his partner's head coach came about a season ago, closing a chapter where he was the protagonist to start a completely different story where Bjorn pulled the strings from the shadows.

“It all started with a tennis dialogue we had in our relationship, around the time I decided to end my career as a player. Suddenly, Madison started bouncing off some ideas about me. It was the first time I heard her opinion on those things until we ended up betting that I would be the one to accompany her full-time on the circuit. At that moment, I started asking her questions: ‘How much do you want this? Are you happy being top 25? Would you like to push a bit more? What do you want?’, recalls the former #99 in the world rankings.

From that dialogue arose a new Keys, or rather, the original Keys was recovered, the one who dreamed of winning the biggest titles on the circuit and did not impose limits. Several coaches tried to go down that path alongside the Rock Island tennis player, but only her partner was able to touch her heart in the most professional sense. It was Fratangelo who rekindled that hunger to win, to dream, to position herself back where the opportunity to achieve something big came. In his first experience from the sidelines, Bjorn has shown that he was more than ready for the role.

“When I'm on the sidelines during her matches, what I try to do is stay calm, but I'm not going to deceive anyone and say I don't have a pulse, that would be lying. The reality is that living through each match from the front row is very stressful. When you can't do anything and you're just sitting there, the truth is that you feel a bit helpless. Obviously, in that situation, you try to interpret and anticipate what might happen. But yes, in that moment of being just sitting there alone, the level of stress multiplies,” he acknowledges during the conversation.

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

So where was the key? Many jokingly point out that the turning point was in November, when Madison Keys and Bjorn Fratangelo got married to change their marital status. Six weeks later, the American was celebrating her honeymoon in the best possible way: conquering the title in Adelaide and repeating at the Australian Open fifteen days later. A fairy tale with a happy ending: her first Grand Slam and a return to her highest-ever ranking (#7). And now what? The coach is quite clear, assuming that this new phase of his wife is just beginning to take its first steps.

“Honestly, Madison is far from her full potential. Sharpening the axe can take you far in this sport, but sometimes you need to add new tools to evolve. I think these are the pieces that I have tried to move since joining the team. She had been doing it her way for a while, which brought her success and an incredible career, but I always thought that some subtle changes and adjustments could take her from top 15 to top 8. That's what we are working on right now,” Fratangelo concludes.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, El mayor valedor de Madison Keys