Keys: "It's better to lose and keep being the defending champion"

Fernando Murciego | 26 Jan 2026 | 08.34

Keys: "It feels better to lose and still be the defending champion." Source: Getty

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There will be no fairytale re-edition for Madison Keys at this Australian Open. The champion will cease to be so by the end of this week after falling in the round of 16. However, her reflections in the press conference could not be more accurate.

She appeared so calm that she even seemed a bit content for Jessica Pegula to be the woman who halted her path in this 2026 Australian Open. Hurt, of course, but aware that something like this could happen sooner than expected. Madison Keys showed maturity in her press conference, appreciating her journey over the last twelve months and expressing the excitement she feels to keep improving at 30 years old.

Defeat against Pegula

"Obviously, this is not how I wanted things to end here, but I am still very proud of myself. I believe coming back here as the defending champion, dealing with this kind of pressure and additional nerves, is something that makes me very proud of how I handled everything. Today was just one of those days where Jessica got the better of me, so I can leave with my head held high."

Credit to her opponent

"She did a great job from the start, dictating the points. On my part, I felt that if I didn't hit a good shot right away, she quickly took control of the point. I found myself struggling to regain that control; perhaps in the second set, I was closer to breaking her serve, but I made easy errors and didn't compete well in crucial moments."

Content with her performance

"I am proud of myself for being very clear-minded and trying to solve problems. Overall, there were many positives to take from this tournament, many steps forward. I was open to trying new things, attempting to implement some of the things we had been working on, although that is not always easy to do. Especially here, where I had that layer of pressure to come back. For all these reasons, I am super proud. Now it's time to return to training and continue improving on some aspects; I have 11 months to implement them."

The match from a tactical perspective

"Jessica had her tactics very clear, always looking to take an early lead in a point to then have total control of it. When we faced each other, it's always a game of who takes the lead first and who can maintain it, but this time she was better. Obviously, it's not something that happens so often, but in the past, there were moments where I would have done much better if I extended the rallies. Today, I don't think I handled those early balls well enough."

Madison Keys' conclusion after being eliminated in Australia

"It feels much better to lose and still be the defending champion because that means you have won. I don't have that feeling that the world is ending after this defeat. As I said, I have 11 months of the season left, and there is still much to be proud of, so I will go out and work on new things and try to implement them in the next tournament. Of course, I'm disappointed, but I'm trying not to live and die on each win or loss; I don't want to go through this at this point in my career."

Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula embrace at the net. Source: Getty

Excited to keep improving

"I still believe there are many things I can improve on, discovering some aspects that are more challenging to change at this moment just because the habits are deeply rooted in customs. There are other aspects I am correcting; I am open to change, but I know that with other issues, it will take me longer to resolve. When we have the chance to practice them, I will go all out to emphasize and insist on them, to try to improve them. I still have many things to improve on, so all of this remains very exciting at this stage of my career."

What happens after winning a tournament?

"When I won here, I then had 48 hours to enjoy it, but then you try to carry that momentum with you, to leverage it for the next tournament. I don't mean to say we don't cherish winning the week before, the reality is that often you win on a Sunday, and on Monday, you're already playing; that's how players operate, we have to immediately move on to the next week. Many of us are always focused on the following week, on how to improve from the previous year or how to maintain the same momentum. If you're constantly worried about every point you defend, you end up going crazy, more than we already are."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Keys: “Es mejor perder y seguir siendo la campeona defensora”

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