THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to Brisbane. It's been a few years. How does it feel? How has the preparation been?
MADISON KEYS: Really excited to be back in Brisbane. It's been a few years, so happy to be back. Have some really great memories here. Have played here quite a few times. Looking forward to starting the year off here.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. What was the feeling sort of on your way to Australia, knowing that you had had such a great result and career-defining result here last year?
MADISON KEYS: I'm really excited. I think that there is obviously a lot of pressure that comes with doing as well as I did last year, but not very many people get to go into this swing being a defending champion. So I'm trying really just to appreciate that and enjoy the position that I have put myself in.
Q. You weren't just the defending champion at the Australian Open but also were a winner in Adelaide. What is it about Australia that brings out your best tennis?
MADISON KEYS: I have always really enjoyed playing here, and I have always had some really good success here. So I think starting the year here definitely helps feeling fresh and ready to go after having some time at home. I have just always really loved the conditions, and then obviously some really good memories I think help create more good memories.
Q. Welcome back. Last year Auckland was where you chose to kick off your season. Curious what the changeup, if there is any reason behind that, you wanting, now that you have the slam out of the way, you wanted to test yourself against bigger names, or is it you wanted to change the city? What's the reason for moving to Brisbane at the start of your season?
MADISON KEYS: Well, last year I was ranked a little bit lower, so I wanted to be able to get some matches. Situations obviously changed this year a bit, so just felt like a good place to start. I have obviously had some good success here in Brisbane and enjoy playing. Was an easy decision.
Q. On that run in Adelaide, was there any point where you thought, this is really starting to click, or had there been other previous campaigns where you felt just as good as that heading into a Grand Slam and you're not sure what's going to unfold after that?
MADISON KEYS: I definitely felt really good playing in Adelaide, so, you know, I felt like there was a lot of really good momentum. I don't think I have ever -- I don't think at any point I thought that it was going to unfold the way that it did.
Yeah, I think honestly just running with momentum and continuing to play, you know, just one match after another and not really get ahead of myself, having the kind of three weeks that I was able to put together, not sure you could really write a better story.
Q. The field here in a 500, outside of Masters events and Grand Slams, is it pretty rare to have 7 of the top-10 women in the world? What's it like to start the season off?
MADISON KEYS: I feel like this week has always been one of those weeks where the field is pretty difficult and tough. There is not a ton of places for all of us to go and play. We'll inevitably all end up in the same place. It happens a few times a year. I think it always kind of brings out the best in all of us.
Q. Brisbane, it's probably not a place you might be going still in six-and-a-half years, but the Olympics city, tennis will be back here for the Olympics, as well. Is it a kind of special place on the circuit at all for you, or just another tournament?
MADISON KEYS: I have made a final here and we got to actually play, we played Billie Jean King Cup years and years ago here when it was on the red clay, so that was a fun experience to be here.
I have lots of really great memories here. It's always been a really great place to start the season.
Q. I just wanted to ask about how important it is to start well here, to replicate what you managed to do a year ago in Melbourne? How conscious are you of what you're doing right now to try and repeat how well you were playing a year ago?
MADISON KEYS: I think that I have learned that you can't ever really replicate what you used to do. I think that's a really hard thing to do.
I think the way that things unfolded last year, that's just how they happened to work out. So you start every year at zero, and you want to play as well as you can for as many of those weeks. But I have definitely tried to start getting away from trying to redo previous years.
Q. Do you have more expectation on yourself this year, though, or do you appreciate that there will be other people, Aussie fans who maybe don't follow year round who come to the tennis and see you as reigning champion and have greater expectation of you this year?
MADISON KEYS: I mean, I think that obviously after you win a slam, expectations go up, so I think I have played the past year with higher expectations, but there are so many great players, and everyone is playing very, very good tennis right now. So you also know that it's not solely up to you.
I think I'm really just trying to go out and start the year off as best as I can and play some really good tennis. Excited to see how all of the chips fall.
Q. The past 12 months, how has the life changed over the past 12 months since you became a Grand Slam champion?
MADISON KEYS: I don't think my life changed too much. I have spent many, many years on tour now and have had different levels of success. Obviously a huge accomplishment, but I wasn't like Emma or someone like that who kind of went from being in quallies to winning a slam.
People kind of already knew who I was, I was kind of used to the pressure. It wasn't a massive change (smiling).
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports