Madison Keys admits that in the past, she viewed the clay swing as a countdown to the grass tournaments, but now she embraces the surface.
The world No.5 kicked off her 2025 campaign on the dirt on Tuesday at the Charleston Open where she is the second seed. In her opening match, she battled to a tricky 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), win over compatriot Caroline Dolehide. It was a far from easy task for Keys who failed to convert four match points when leading 5-3, another two in the following game and one in the tiebreaker before prevailing on her eighth attempt.
“I think I played pretty well, kind of up until the end,” said Keys.
“Then I think I got a little bit passive and I think Caroline really raised her level, but overall really happy to get through that in straight sets.”
So far in her career, Keys has won 10 WTA titles. The most prestigious of those being earlier this year when at the age of 30 she claimed her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. However, she has only won two trophies on the clay with one of those being in Charleston back in 2019. Last year she also won a WTA 250 event in Strasbourg. She has made 12 main draw appearances at the French Open with her best run being to the semi-finals in 2018.
During her career, Keys is regarded as a more dangerous player on the hardcourts, as well as the grass. However, in recent months she has grown fond of clay too.
“Last year I decided I was a clay specialist, and I’m going to continue to run with that this year and see how it goes,” Keys said. “I think that after many, many years I’ve kind of accepted that I’m pretty good on clay, and I feel like I move fairly well on it. I think I’ve finally stopped fighting it and say I love clay.”
Keys is coached on the Tour by her husband Bjorn Fratangelo who enjoyed success himself on the clay during his professional career. Capturing the French Open boy’s title in 2011 by defeating Dominic Thiem in the final. He also won six Challenger titles on the surface.
“We have pretty different games, which has been kind of the balancing act of he’ll tell me stuff sometimes, and then we have to kind of have a conversation about how we don’t play the same,” Keys said of working with Fratangelo.
“But I think it’s a good balance, and I think he does a good job at helping me figure out how to take my game and not change it too much just because of a surface change.”
Keys will next play either 14th seed Anna Kalinskaya or Caty McNally.
