MADISON KEYS’ VICTORY: EXTRA LARGE, NO CARRY-ON ALLOWED

For most professional tennis players, hauling oversized baggage through airports is just part of the job.
But when Madison Keys boarded her flight home from Melbourne, she had an extra piece of luggage unlike any she’d carried before: the Australian Open trophy.
“It had to go under the plane,” Keys told CNN Sport. “It’s too big for the overhead bins, and there weren’t enough seats to put it next to me, but it made it in one piece!”
Keys’ first Grand Slam title was years in the making. Once hailed as the future of American tennis after breaking onto the tour at just 14, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 7 in 2016. Deep runs at major tournaments followed—a semifinal at the Australian Open in 2015, a heartbreaking U.S. Open final loss in 2017, and more semifinal finishes in 2018, but the ultimate prize remained elusive. Between 2018 and 2022, she reached just one Grand Slam quarterfinal, leaving many to wonder if her time had passed.
Keys herself had those doubts. “I felt like I should have won one by now,” she admitted. “That was becoming a mental block for me, a burden.”
But something shifted. “I finally freed myself from that pressure. It wasn’t that I wanted it any less, but I was able to separate my self-worth from wins and losses. That gave me the freedom to just go for it.”
And go for it she did. With a commanding performance in the Australian Open final, Keys stunned two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka to capture her maiden Grand Slam title. The victory makes her the fourth-oldest woman to win her first Grand Slam in the Open Era, and just three weeks shy of her 30th birthday.
Keys’ triumph capped an unforgettable few months, which also included marrying her longtime partner and coach, Bjorn Fratangelo. When asked how her wedding stacks up against winning her first Slam, she laughed: “The wedding is still definitely at the top of the leaderboard, but this is a very close second.”
Of course, working and traveling with your spouse isn’t always smooth sailing. “The worst part?” Keys joked. “Having to admit he’s right — a lot.”
For now, she can enjoy knowing she was right about one thing: she always had what it took to be a Grand Slam champion.