Madison Keys defends new ideas to grow tennis: "We need to attract young people"

Madison Keys attended the press conference of the WTA 1000 Toronto 2026 after debuting with a solid victory against Ruzic and discussed several interesting topics that go beyond her performance. Her experience and expertise make her an authoritative voice on the WTA tour, and her call for innovative measures and opinions on Noskova have caused quite a stir.

At 31 years old, the former Australian Open champion remains highly competitive and poses, at least occasionally, a threat to the best players in the world. She will aim to be a key player during this North American hard court swing, but for now, she's already made headlines with her insights.

Madison Keys surprises with her words in Toronto

Keys, optimistic about the rest of the season

"There have been very good moments this season and others where I felt a bit disappointed with my level. The beauty of tennis is that, no matter where you are in the season, there is always a new opportunity".

I want to make sure I focus on playing the way I want to play and executing the things we’ve been working on in matches. Sometimes it’s easy to fall back into bad habits or play in a more comfortable way, even if that’s not what you’ve trained for.

If at the end of each match I can leave the court knowing that I tried to execute what we had prepared, then it will just depend on whether I did it well enough or not. If I can achieve that, I will be satisfied with the rest of the season."

Strong opinion on Noskova's victory at Wimbledon

The American was eliminated in the round of 16 by what would ultimately be the Wimbledon champion, and it’s striking to see what her feelings were after losing to the Czech in that match, where Madison was favored.

"It’s always better to lose to the champion than to someone who falls in the next round. I felt like I had my chances and that, at least, I could have taken the match to the third set. Those are the matches where you think: 'If I had done a couple of things differently, who knows what might have happened?'

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As I was heading to the press conference, people were telling me: 'What a tough match'. And I responded: 'That’s fine, she’s going to win the tournament'.

I saw how she handled the important moments and the tennis she was able to produce under pressure. After facing her, I had no doubt that she was the favorite to win Wimbledon."

Need for innovation in tennis

The American was also asked about the new formats that have emerged in recent years, such as the revamped mixed doubles at the US Open or similar initiatives driven by other tournaments. Although she jokingly defined herself as a "purist" of tennis, she believes the sport needs to open up to new ideas.

"I think there are opportunities to change some things and move a bit away from the more traditional view of tennis. I say this, even though I’m probably one of the people who resist changes the most."

I found the way the US Open did it to be really entertaining. I also found initiatives like the 1 Point Slam at the Australian Open to be very interesting. There are many creative ways to get more people interested in our sport.

Tennis is an incredibly exciting sport right now. If you can get people to take that first step and start watching it, then they will get hooked."

Her words should be taken seriously and fall within a similar logic to Djokovic's proposals for revolutionary measures, but Madison Keys seeks situations that are not so drastic and that do not distort tennis as we understand it today. It will be interesting to see how these ideas develop, as well as her performance at the WTA 1000 Toronto 2026, where she will now face Marta Kostyuk.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Madison Keys defiende nuevas ideas para hacer crecer el tenis: "Hay que atraer gente joven"