Madison Keys is a Grand Slam champion at last, fulfilling the destiny that had been laid out for her since she turned pro at the precocious age of 14.
And by God she did it the hard way. After saving a match point to beat world No2 Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, Keys took out world No1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
The 29-year-old Keys had yearned for this; craved the validation of a major title so deeply that it paralysed her. It paralysed her against Sloane Stephens in the 2017 US Open finals and it paralysed her again in New York when she lost a semi-final to Sabalenka after winning the first set 6-0.
But recently Keys has been able to let go, to realise that she has had a fine career and can be proud of her efforts. As it turned out, only when she stopped wanting it was she able to reach out and take it.
Sabalenka has won and lost some big matches in her career but it has always been, as we say, ‘on her racket’: the destiny of her match decided by how many of her colossal blows found their target. But that was not so here. Here the 27-year-old Belarusian was forced to spend much of the match scurrying around and hoping her opponent missed.
This was the clash of the titans, two of the most brutal hitters in the game. Both women have been characterised in the past as mindless ball-bashers but, Sabalenka over the past couple of years and Keys more recently, they have tamed their power.
Madison Keys is a Grand Slam champion at last, fulfilling the destiny that had been laid out for her since she turned pro at the precocious age of 14
After saving a match point to beat world No2 Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, Keys took out world No1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
Keys had yearned for this; craved the validation of a major title so deeply that it paralysed her
In the aftermath of Keys’ seismic, match-point-saving win over Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, her coach and husband Bjorn Fratangelo said: ‘Sharpening the axe can get you so far but sometimes you just need new tools.’ Keys began working with her husband last year and, with the help of a change of racket from Wilson to Yonex, they have refined her game.
Both players showed off their array of skills in a superb final full of touch and athleticism and – yes – blood-curdling power.
Keys’ last Slam final was the 2017 US Open final against her close friend Sloane Stephens and she was utterly shackled by nerves. She reached 2-2 in the first set and won only one game thereafter.
The 29-year-old admitted she had ‘thought about that match endlessly for the past eight years’ and it was clear from the first there would be no repeat.
Rather, it was double-defending champion Sabalenka who started edgily, double faulting twice in the opening game to concede a break.
At 1-3 she double faulted again to concede break point and Keys chopped back a Sabalenka-esque forehand slice which gripped in the court and bounced too low to handle.
In the next game Keys played an exceptional cross court backhand drop shot, a note of pure poetry amid the heavy metal. Carlos Alcaraz would have been proud of such a shot and it was a weapon that was simply not in the Keys armoury a year ago.
As Fratangelo said before the final: ‘Sharpening the axe can get you so far, but sometimes you just need new tools.’ Well that defensive slice forehand, skimming like a bird above water, was a new tool and that drop shot was another.
If Keys needed any bulwark against complacency then could remember the 2023 US Open semi-final when she lost to Sabalenka in a heartbreaker after taking the first set 6-0.
What a credit to the two of them that they have been able to combine marital bliss with the tempestuous relationship of coach and player. It could all have gone so wrong; it matters little whether a racket is Wilson or Yonex when your wife buries it in your skull.
Sabalenka edged her way back into the set, increasing her ball speed.
Serving at 5-3, 30-30, Sabalenka was in the ascendancy. A hold here would have forced Keys to serve for the set having lost three games in a row. But a fourth double fault chose the most inopportune time to arrive and then Keys smoked a backhand down the line to take the set.
Sabalenka had at least achieved what Swiatek had failed to do in the second set of the semi-final – she had stopped the bleeding, established a speed bump before the rollocking Keys station wagon.
She missed some big chances in the first game of the second set, on Keys’ serve, duffing an overhead and, on break point, netting a simple pass.
‘Let’s go tiger, come on girl’, said a voice from the crowd and Sabalenka broke to take the lead, thumping a backhand winner. She was playing faster and flatter, forcing Keys either to defend – not likely – or attack from less promising positions.
Sabalenka was raising the volume now, a roar of effort becoming a scream of triumph as she ripped a passing shot to go a double break up on the way to squaring the match.
That was two fairly one-sided sets, then, and now we hoped for a nailbiting decider. The exceptional serving continued, with 10 holds in a row and zero break points. Both women were seeing it like an Aussie rules football; some of the shotmaking took the breath away.
As the final stages approached neither woman showed an iota of fear, taking on the big shot whenever it was available. The best of the lot came as Keys served at 5-5, 30-30 – a high-pressure point. Sabalenka drilled a forehand right at her and Keys got low and half-volleyed a bullet reply that ought to have left scorch marks on the blue court.
That left Sabalenka to serve to stay in the match for a second time and Keys hit a first serve for a clean backhand winner to go 0-30 up. She attacked again at 15-30 and brought up two championship points.
One big Sabalenka serve came down, then another but this time Keys was over it and hit that backhand down the line again. Back it came but there was no fear, no doubt and no nerves. That ferocious forehand which has been her calling card since her teenage years struck once; it struck twice and it was over.
More to follow…