Keys confesses which defeat has driven her at this Roland Garros

It's curious how little Madison Keys is being talked about in this Roland Garros 2025. Perhaps because there are other favorites, perhaps because she never achieved her greatest successes on this surface, but the reality tells us that the American is the only undefeated player this season in Grand Slams. The reigning Australian Open champion is advancing with maximum reliability in Paris, reaching the quarterfinals and now aiming at her good friend Cori Gauff. A winning woman, in the spotlight, who wants more, much more. Yesterday she had to dig deep to reach the group of the top four to then share her thoughts with the journalists.

Victory over Baptiste

“I'm very happy to still be in the tournament, especially after coming so close to being eliminated. I think when you experience something like that, you then play with greater freedom, although I was aware of the great opportunity I had here to reach the quarterfinals, so it was a bit of a mix of both. I am very grateful to still be in the draw, but I'm eager to get back on court and play with much more solidity, I want to seize this opportunity.”

Mindset in Grand Slams

“Generally, I think I have had quite some success in Grand Slams, especially at the beginning of my career, I remember always aspiring to these kinds of tournaments, trying to schedule my whole calendar to arrive in the best shape for them. Interestingly, now I believe I am starting to play better the week before and things like that, I have changed my mindset a bit, but it seems that these two-week tournaments suit me well. I don't know why, I always attributed a lot of importance to these tournaments. When I started working with Bjorn (Fratangelo), one of my goals was to give more importance to the other weeks, to be more consistent throughout the season, not just four times a year. It's something I have worked on a lot, I have strived to achieve it.”

What is the reason for your improvement?

“It's difficult to quantify one thing or say whether one improvement weighs more than the other. I think my mindset has helped a lot to make better decisions at crucial points, but I also believe that I have pushed myself to keep playing this way, in my own way. Perhaps before, I became more cautious and played more defensively at critical moments, now I try hard to keep playing as I always have. At the same time, I think adding the slice has helped me a lot to change the pace and stay in the rallies. It's a bit of everything.”

Gauff in the quarterfinals

“Obviously, Coco is more dominant on clay, I would say it's probably her best surface, so it will be a great challenge. For me, it's about trying to attack but knowing that with her ability to cover the court, I'll have to win each point many times before it's over. This is always one of the trickiest aspects when playing against someone who moves as well as she does. Additionally, there's the threat that if at any point you lose control of the point, she will go on the attack. The most important thing is to find the balance and try to attack with enough margin to repeat this shot after shot.”

A key decision in your clay court swing

“The truth is, I went back home after an early loss in Rome, in a way it was a blessing to spend a little over a week there. It helped me reset my journey, return to Paris, and feel completely renewed. It's a very long stretch, it's true, it happened to me a year ago when I played in Strasbourg before Roland Garros, I was quite fit there but ready to come back home. For us, it's difficult, the difference between this swing and the spring one is that there's no Grand Slam at the end, so it's harder to balance. Looking back, maybe it was good to have lost early in Rome.”

Your relationship with Gauff

“I think the first time I saw her she was 9 years old, maybe not that young, but too young to be on the professional circuit. Just watching her play, I knew she would quickly become someone dominant, she had an incredible presence despite her youth. Even today, I'm impressed by how she handles pressure at her young age. It's one of the things she has done a phenomenal job with. It's been fun to see her grow… sometimes I feel old when I talk about Coco, although I am aware of the age difference between us, it's no longer surprising.”

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Keys confiesa cuál es la derrota que le ha impulsado en este Roland Garros