Madison Keys pictures herself as a champion again at the Australian Open

Madison Keys Returns to Australian Open as Defending Champion, Soaking in “Pinch-Me Moment”

MELBOURNE, Australia — Madison Keys has a private mission planned during her return to Rod Laver Arena. The defending Australian Open champion wants to slip quietly into the player tunnel when no one is watching to capture a photo of her name listed among the tournament’s champions.

“I’ve always kind of remembered walking through that tunnel and seeing all the names,” Keys revealed Friday, just days before the year’s first Grand Slam begins. “It was a little bit of a pinch-me moment where I was like, ‘Wow, I’m going to be up there.'”

The 30-year-old American, who defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s final to claim her first Grand Slam title, hasn’t yet seen her name immortalized in the champions’ corridor. “I hope I can go in there when there’s no one else so I can take a picture and send it to my mom,” she said with anticipation.

Even before facing the media in Melbourne, Keys noticed other reminders of her breakthrough triumph. “There’s a really cool photo of me holding the trophy,” she shared. “Getting to see those, it’s something you dream of in your career.”

Keys’ path to victory last year was anything but straightforward. Reflecting on her championship run, she acknowledged the struggles that made the victory sweeter. “I was match point down. So many three-set matches. There were some ugly matches,” she recalled. “It kind of just makes everything a little bit better because it wasn’t issue-free.”

Her 2023 Australian Open triumph came after winning a lead-up tournament in Adelaide. At 29, Keys became the oldest first-time women’s champion in tournament history and set a record for the longest gap between first two Grand Slam finals—her first being the 2017 U.S. Open. The victory propelled her into the Top 5 rankings the following month.

However, Keys’ post-Australian Open season brought mixed results. She reached the French Open quarterfinals, exited Wimbledon in the third round, and suffered a disappointing first-round loss at the U.S. Open. At the WTA Finals, she lost two matches in the group stage.

Meanwhile, Sabalenka has rebounded strongly from last year’s final defeat. “She played incredible and overplayed me. Took me a little time to recover,” the world No. 1 admitted on Friday. “We had matches after that. I worked on my mistake on those matches.”

The Belarusian star recently defeated Keys in the quarterfinals at the Brisbane International before claiming the title. “Going to this AO, I’m not really focusing on that last year result,” Sabalenka said, “but of course I would like to do just a little bit better than I did last year!”

Sabalenka opens her campaign Sunday night against French wild-card entrant Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah. Keys, seeded ninth and positioned in the opposite half of the draw from Sabalenka, will face Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova in her first-round match.

Keys is embracing the new experience of defending a major title, despite also falling in the quarterfinals during her title defense in Adelaide earlier this week. “Even though I’ve been on tour for a long time, this is also still my first experience as that,” she explained. “I’m really just trying to soak in all of the really cool fun parts.”

Despite her veteran status on tour, Keys expects the familiar butterflies when she steps onto court. “Yes, I’m sure going on court I’m going to be very nervous,” she admitted, “but I don’t think I’ve ever walked on court first round of a Grand Slam and not been nervous.”

The Australian Open begins Sunday at Melbourne Park, with Keys aiming to become the first woman to successfully defend the title since Victoria Azarenka in 2013. Her journey as a first-time defending champion adds another compelling storyline to the tournament’s opening week.