Serena Williams congratulated Madison Keys on her Australian Open triumph and also stated that it proved she’s “one of the best” on the WTA Tour.
In a thriller final at Melbourne Park, the 19th-seeded American upset world No. 1 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-3 2-6 7-5.
By doing so, the American tennis star became a Grand Slam champion at 29.
In Melbourne, Keys was pretty much a giant-slayer since she also defeated Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, Elina Svitolina and Danielle Collins.
Williams, a former 23-time Grand Slam champion, followed the 29-year-old’s run and issued a special message.
“I just saw Madison Keys, congrats to her winning the Australian Open today. She is an amazing player. I got to play her a lot. Now she has just won the Australian Open, she is so awesome,” the American tennis icon said in a video uploaded on her Instagram.
“But also something I was thinking about was that she invested in herself, she invested in her career and time into tennis and being the best she can be. Today she proved she is one of the best in the world.”
Keys admitted that she felt the weight of expectations
In her post-final presser, the American revealed that she was just 11 or 12 when she was first told that she could win a Grand Slam.
Then, she became a pro player and from Day 1 had big expectations placed on her.
“It really started to kind of weigh on me more where it was, What if I never do it? If I don’t do it, am I considered a failure? There was a lot of stuff that I had to, like, work through personally just with all of that just because of all of the pressure I was putting on myself with that,” Keys explained.
Before this year’s Australian Open run, the American was the closest to winning a Grand Slam at the 2017 US Open – when she lost to Sloane Stephens in the final.
Tennis World USA