THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the defending champion Madison Keys to the interview room here at the Adelaide International. Can you just give us your thoughts on returning here and your memories of being here as defending champion.
MADISON KEYS: I'm super happy to be back in Adelaide. I've always had a great experience here. I love this tournament, so excited to be back. Hoping to keep the winning streak alive here in Adelaide.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Did you fly in yesterday?
MADISON KEYS: Yes.
Q. How has your experience been since Brisbane, tough loss there to a really great player, how are your preparations going?
MADISON KEYS: I think, for a first week, I think there's a lot of positives. I was able to get through a really tough match in my second match, and was able to pull up and be healthy.
Obviously it's tough to have to play Aryna this early in the season, as it's the first week. But I think there's some things that I did a little bit better than the last time we played, and there's definitely a lot of room for improvement in other ways. But all in all I think a positive week and good momentum to kind of carry for the rest of the season.
Q. When you reflect on what happened 12 months ago, is that still a blur in your mind that it actually happened?
MADISON KEYS: It's definitely settled. A year later it feels a little bit more real. But it will still be obviously the highlight of my career. And it's an amazing experience here, and the fact that it was basically a perfect three weeks. I'm not sure I could ever replicate that, and I'm certainly not going to be trying to replicate that. But it was really just absolutely an amazing experience.
Q. You had Brisbane last week, you got Melbourne in a week or so. A lot of air miles going on there. What made you come to Adelaide just days before the Australian Open starts?
MADISON KEYS: This is my third time in Adelaide, and I've always really enjoyed playing here. I think it's great preparation. I have really just liked playing here and feeling like getting those matches and just kind of getting the match play, not only to win some good matches here, but also I think it's really good preparation, not only for the Australian Open, but just I think I've always really liked to try to have the best start to the season as possible, and I think you only do that by playing matches.
Q. Your win in Adelaide last year, how much confidence did that give you, how much did that help you go deep into the Australian Open?
MADISON KEYS: It definitely helped a lot. Twice before when I've played Adelaide, a few years ago it was a 250, and I ended up making the semis of Australian Open. And then last year obviously I went deep. So no pressure, I guess, on myself for that (smiling).
I think it's just really, like I said, you want matches at the beginning of the season. You really want to test yourself. I think that getting as many good matches as possible helps you figure out what's working, what's not working, where to make some tweaks here or there, but it also just gives you a lot of confidence and momentum.
Q. The Australian Open win last year, that gave you a lot of opportunities, but how much did that change your life on a daily basis?
MADISON KEYS: Everyone loves to ask me if it's changed my life. I don't think that it's really changed my life. It's a huge accomplishment, and it's something I'm massively proud of myself for. But I think I'm a little bit, I'm a bit of a different first slam winner than we've had the past couple of years. A lot of them have been like 19, or they came from quallies, or things like that.
So seeing as I've had many more years on tour, and everyone kind of knew me, and I've had pretty high levels of success already, it was just kind of one of those things that people are really happy that I finally achieved it, but it wasn't quite a shock across the sport.
So things haven't changed that differently, other than just the fact that I just kind of get to put my name in the history book there.
Q. Do you think winning later in your tennis life makes you appreciate it more?
MADISON KEYS: I don't know if I would say I appreciate it more. I would have loved for it to happen many years ago. But I think that perspectives have definitely changed on them.
I think my first years on tour it was almost kind of one of those things where it was just, I kind of had this thought that it was absolutely going to happen, and then I started putting more and more pressure on myself when it didn't happen. Then it became kind of that illusive, will it ever happen.
So I think I really had to kind of work through all of that just to get myself to a point where I was okay if it didn't happen, and I could see all of my success that I had had as a major achievement with or without a Grand Slam. I think getting to that point really kind of settled me and let me kind of find the level that I was able to find last year to win AO.
Q. You obviously had a dream run last year. How much did this tournament in Adelaide, whatever it is about Adelaide, the environment, the competition, the way it's run, how was that able to serve as a springboard for you to get that breakthrough at the AO?
MADISON KEYS: I think there's, I think that there's a bunch of different reasons why. For one, I think obviously the more matches that you can win, the more confidence that you start gaining. But it's also such a great just tournament in general. It's easy to get around, it's a little bit quieter and not as chaotic. So I think it's a perfect place to be the week before a slam when tensions get very high.
But it's also, I've just really, I really like the conditions. I really enjoy the courts here. I think it's kind of all of those things kind of package it up into being a really great week.
Q. How much hunger is there to win here again in Adelaide because of how things turned out last year?
MADISON KEYS: Like I said, I've never lost here so far, so I would like to keep that streak alive. That would be I think a pretty cool record of mine to have. So that's definitely the goal.
Q. Do you have anything you like doing when you come to Adelaide outside of the tennis? Restaurants or rituals or anything like that?
MADISON KEYS: So this is my third time here. We've gone to a bunch of different restaurants, couldn't tell you the names of them, sorry (laughing). But I really enjoy just kind of walking around and finding all of the great restaurants. I'm a huge coffee drinker, so I'm also constantly looking for great coffee.
Then my friends and I on tour are also huge escape room fans, so we kind of suss out all of the escape rooms in Adelaide (laughing).
Q. I was wondering if you had any goals for 2026, backing up a Grand Slam win last year.
MADISON KEYS: So my big goal coming back to Australia was, I know that there's going to be a lot of pressure being defending champion, not only here but also in Australia, or at the Australian Open. But, like, I know that pressure is going to be there, and I think there's kind of two different ways that you can look at it. You can either look at it and think, Oh, my God, that's a lot of pressure, and kind of be a little bit scared about it.
I'm really challenging myself to kind of flip that and think of it as what a really cool opportunity that not very many people get to have. Like, I get to go back here, and in Melbourne, and be defending champion. And I have all these people who watched my run and got to kind of experience it, and everyone always tells me that they cried. So I feel like I gained a lot of fans from that run as well. That doesn't happen very often, and that's such a cool experience.
I'm really kind of just trying to think about that and think about how cool that is and what an experience. I just get to be really proud of myself for being able to give myself that opportunity. So that's been my big goal so far for 2026.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports