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Rennae Stubbs: Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast. What
Rennae Stubbs: a treat I have for you all today, the one
Rennae Stubbs: and only now Grand Slam champion Madison Keys. If I
Rennae Stubbs: had a clapped thingy that I could afford, I would
Rennae Stubbs: have done that. But welcome my friend. Wow wow wow.
Rennae Stubbs: First of all, the first thing I want to say
Rennae Stubbs: to you is before the Australian Open started, Jessica Pegula
Rennae Stubbs: has told everybody this. I saw her in the player's
Rennae Stubbs: concierge at the Australian Open, and I walked up and
Rennae Stubbs: I said, hey girl, great week last week, you know,
Rennae Stubbs: way to make it through the finals.
Madison Keys: Good start to the year.
Rennae Stubbs: And she goes, Rennae, if Madison plays anything like she
Rennae Stubbs: did against me in the third set, she's winning this tournament.
Rennae Stubbs: And I was like, okay, that's some pretty high praise
Rennae Stubbs: from you. Sure enough, she was right. So I'm just
Rennae Stubbs: gonna give Jess all the credit here. No none to you.
Madison Keys: She texted me after a match. I mean we traveled
Madison Keys: together as well, but she texted me like, I got
Madison Keys: this long message as we're like meeting at each other
Madison Keys: at the airport, and she was like, no, you don't understand.
Madison Keys: You're playing unreal. Like She's like no, no, no, but
Madison Keys: but you don't get it. It's like unreal tennis. Like
Madison Keys: just just do that again, Like I can't. She's like,
Madison Keys: I'm not even like sad that I last, because like
Madison Keys: that was insane.
Rennae Stubbs: I mean, you know, I've got so many questions when
Rennae Stubbs: I ask you, but did that did that resonate in
Rennae Stubbs: you at all? Like hearing it from someone who knows
Rennae Stubbs: you so well, also knows how you can play, but
Rennae Stubbs: also as being in the latter part of grand slams,
Rennae Stubbs: particularly the last one at the US Open.
Madison Keys: I mean, yes and no. I think it's one of
Madison Keys: those things where I definitely felt like I was playing
Madison Keys: really well. I feel like I almost played better in
Madison Keys: Adelaide than I did in Melbourne. I was playing just
Madison Keys: unreal tennis. Everything just kind of was coming together really
Madison Keys: easily and just kind of worked my way through the
Madison Keys: draw fairly simply. But you know, those weeks where you
Madison Keys: kind of are just like, yeah, like this is just
Madison Keys: kind of my week. So it was just one of
Madison Keys: those things where I was like thanks, like, yeah, I've
Madison Keys: been working hard, but like it was a good week.
Madison Keys: But it's funny. After I won, she was like, I
Madison Keys: feel like I'm very happy for you, but I feel
Madison Keys: she was like, I feel like everyone else is just
Madison Keys: catching up to where I've been for two weeks. So
Madison Keys: she's like, I'm not surprised. I'm not like I just
Madison Keys: expected this to happen.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah. I will give Casey Dellacqua a lot of credit
Rennae Stubbs: to because she picked you as well because she saw
Rennae Stubbs: you play a lot in Adelaide. So before we get
Rennae Stubbs: to the match and all of the things that I
Rennae Stubbs: want to talk to you about, what's the last few
Rennae Stubbs: weeks been like for you? And I just want you
Rennae Stubbs: to tell people what the moments were like, as in
Rennae Stubbs: the hours after you won the tournament, like what are
Rennae Stubbs: the things that people have no idea? Yeah, it looks
Rennae Stubbs: all glamorous, you get this big check, you get a trophy,
Rennae Stubbs: and they think you just walk away. Nah, can you
Rennae Stubbs: tell people what you've what you had to do immediately
Rennae Stubbs: after the match and then subsequently after.
Madison Keys: That, Yeah, it's been it's been kind of crazy, and
Madison Keys: even being a player, I had no idea like the
Madison Keys: hours that go into it. Immediately from the court I
Madison Keys: went and I did. I think we did like six
Madison Keys: live TV interviews all in a row, hadn't even showered yet,
Madison Keys: had no food. Literally at I was like, I'm so thirsty,
Madison Keys: Like I haven't had a drink of water. It's been
Madison Keys: like an hour. So did that, and then finally had
Madison Keys: like twenty minutes, had drug testing that I had to do. Yeah, yeah,
Madison Keys: finally took a shower, shoveled food in my face because
Madison Keys: I was like, oh, I'm already late, and then probably
Madison Keys: did another like two hours of media. So I think
Madison Keys: we got back to the hotel at almost three. It
Madison Keys: was like two thirty. And of course then I'm like
Madison Keys: I can't sleep, so I don't think. I don't think
Madison Keys: I even partially fell asleep until like five am, and
Madison Keys: then I think it was like eight o'clock. I had
Madison Keys: to wake up in the morning and had like more media,
Madison Keys: more stuff, did that for the morning, and then finally
Madison Keys: around like I think it was probably around noon or
Madison Keys: one o'clock, we were finally like done for the day.
Madison Keys: And then I had to pack. I was just a zombie.
Madison Keys: I was like so happy, but also it was like
Madison Keys: I hadn't even taken a breath and absorbed anything that happened.
Madison Keys: And then we had to fly. We flew back to
Madison Keys: the States. I went to New York. I had like
Madison Keys: an entire day of press in New York. Got back
Madison Keys: like Tuesday night, I think, got back to Florida Tuesday night,
Madison Keys: and before the season had even started, we had agreed
Madison Keys: to do. One of the commitments that I had to
Madison Keys: do was for like that Wednesday. So I literally landed
Madison Keys: and had to go back in and do more stuff
Madison Keys: the next day. And then it's like the just kind
Madison Keys: of the follow up, last minute interviews and everything, and
Madison Keys: I think it was probably I think it was like
Madison Keys: Thursday night, and I finally said to my agent. I
Madison Keys: was like, I'm done, Like I can't. I'm gonna put
Madison Keys: my phone in a drawer. I can't talk, Like I'm
Madison Keys: I cannot talk to anyone else. I can't be on
Madison Keys: my phone. It's going in a drawer. If anyone needs me,
Madison Keys: caled Yarn, I will talk to everyone on Monday.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, So I don't I really wanted you to tell
Rennae Stubbs: people that because I want people to understand what it's
Rennae Stubbs: like to you know, and I'm sure you have such
Rennae Stubbs: respect now for people that do this all the time,
Rennae Stubbs: that have won, you know ten twenty plus Grand Slams.
Rennae Stubbs: It's like, this is the way it is, and clearly
Rennae Stubbs: they're used to it, so they know what's coming. But
Rennae Stubbs: I wanted people to understand that it's not just all
Rennae Stubbs: these roses. It's a lot of work, you know, and
Rennae Stubbs: you can't say no to that kind of thing. So
Rennae Stubbs: I want to know. There's moments like I'm not putting
Rennae Stubbs: myself any even remotely close to winning a singles Grand Slam.
Rennae Stubbs: But I remember first time I won a Grand Slam,
Rennae Stubbs: and I got into the shower after the match, and
Rennae Stubbs: it was the first time I felt like I was alone.
Rennae Stubbs: Was there a moment where you were alone where it
Rennae Stubbs: all hit you that you had just won.
Madison Keys: I think it was probably like it was kind of
Madison Keys: after all of the interviews and everything were done, because
Madison Keys: it felt like I was finally able to sit with
Madison Keys: my own thoughts. And I think I was just kind
Madison Keys: of like sitting at home and going through like just
Madison Keys: the normal routine of you're back home, you're making coffee
Madison Keys: or whatever. And I think this was back in Florida.
Madison Keys: It was like days later. It was like days later,
Madison Keys: and I finally just sat there. I was like, holy crap,
Madison Keys: I did that. Like that actually it actually happened, And
Madison Keys: and it's it's a it's a weird thing when something
Madison Keys: that you've been like dreaming of and working towards since
Madison Keys: you were a little kid and then you finally do it,
Madison Keys: the like mental and emotional shift that happens where you're like, wait,
Madison Keys: I actually did it, yeah, and then you kind of
Madison Keys: were sitting there and you go, wait, what do I
Madison Keys: do now? Like, oh wait, like what's next? Like I've
Madison Keys: I've spent almost thirty years of my life essentially like
Madison Keys: working towards this thing, and it's always felt like it was,
Madison Keys: you know, just a little bit far away and like
Madison Keys: I had to still keep working for it, and then
Madison Keys: I did it, and now I have to like totally,
Madison Keys: I feel like I'm like shifting as a person. Yeah,
Madison Keys: And it's I think it's also weird because it's like
Madison Keys: I think when when it's still a dream and it's
Madison Keys: still a goal, you kind of have like all these
Madison Keys: bows and rainbows around it and you're like it's going
Madison Keys: to be the greatest moment of my entire life, and
Madison Keys: then it happens and you're like, Okay, that was really
Madison Keys: really great and I really loved it and I'd love
Madison Keys: to do that again. But also, that's not really what
Madison Keys: I thought it was going to be, Like.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, that's interesting in what way? In what way? Like
Rennae Stubbs: it is it because you're like, oh, well, what's next.
Madison Keys: I think there's a little bit of that, And part
Madison Keys: of that, actually, as a tennis player, kind of annoys
Madison Keys: me that that's like the first thought because every other
Madison Keys: sport they have like their thing and then they have
Madison Keys: all this off time and they get to enjoy it,
Madison Keys: and for us it's like, oh, there's another tournament two
Madison Keys: days later.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They don't have an office like four months.
Madison Keys: No. So I think that's part of it. But I
Madison Keys: think the other thing was I think for a really
Madison Keys: long time for me, I had this kind of thought
Madison Keys: around winning a Grand Slam and what it would mean
Madison Keys: and what it would do, and I think in my
Madison Keys: brain it was like it would be like this life changing,
Madison Keys: insane thing that I finally felt validated in all this,
Madison Keys: and then I think I finally got to the point
Madison Keys: in my career where I was like, Okay, I don't
Madison Keys: really need to win a Grand Slam to feel like
Madison Keys: I've achieved a lot in my career. So I think
Madison Keys: I kind of stopped thinking about what it would be like,
Madison Keys: and then it kind of just all happened in my
Madison Keys: brain quickly, and so it was just kind of it
Madison Keys: just it was like my brain had to actually get
Madison Keys: on track with like everything that had happened so quickly.
Rennae Stubbs: So I always talk about I've talked about many times
Rennae Stubbs: on my podcast or just in general terms, and I
Rennae Stubbs: always talk about the subconscious and conscious minds, And so
Rennae Stubbs: for me, it's like your conscious mind is always has
Rennae Stubbs: always said to you, you're good enough to win this,
Rennae Stubbs: and yes, you know, when you made your first Grand
Rennae Stubbs: Slam final, You're like, yeah, I'm going to win this match.
Rennae Stubbs: But there's this little, tiny, little tiny Madison Keys in
Rennae Stubbs: the back of the This is how I describe it.
Rennae Stubbs: It's like the little one that's in the back of
Rennae Stubbs: the mind going no, you're not, You're really not You're
Rennae Stubbs: really not, You're really not ready. Idon't know if you're
Rennae Stubbs: good enough. Is it a little bit like you talked
Rennae Stubbs: about already, You've always said you felt like was maybe
Rennae Stubbs: a little bit an attainable thing. You weren't quite sure
Rennae Stubbs: if you could get there, so well, I want to
Rennae Stubbs: know then, like after Adelaide and going into the Aussie
Rennae Stubbs: and having an extraordinarily bad, tough draw like you had
Rennae Stubbs: the you had arguably the hardest draw in the tournament,
Rennae Stubbs: which maybe was a good thing for you. I don't know,
Rennae Stubbs: but do you was when you played, particularly the Semis
Rennae Stubbs: and the final against arguably the two best players in
Rennae Stubbs: the world, were your subconscious and conscious minds a little
Rennae Stubbs: bit more aligned, better than they've ever been, Like, was
Rennae Stubbs: that little madisone sort of being shut down a little
Rennae Stubbs: bit more?
Madison Keys: I think I think there was definitely there's I mean,
Madison Keys: I think there was still moments of doubt, I think,
Madison Keys: but I think that's the one thing that I'm kind
Madison Keys: of coming to terms with is that there's always going
Madison Keys: to be doubt. It's it's a normal reaction feeling. It's
Madison Keys: just life. You're never going to go through life and
Madison Keys: say I'm one hundred percent confident all of the time.
Madison Keys: It's just it's not possible.
Rennae Stubbs: So I think not having the negative reaction towards doubt
Rennae Stubbs: and and wasting energy and time being mad at myself
Rennae Stubbs: for having doubt and just and almost like fighting against
Rennae Stubbs: it and saying, well, no, I.
Madison Keys: Don't think that, like that's not true. I know I
Madison Keys: am confident, and instead saying like, okay, like that's a
Madison Keys: fine feeling to have, but like you can have that
Madison Keys: feeling and you can also still win this match, so
Madison Keys: like it doesn't have to be you don't have to
Madison Keys: be one hundred percent. I'm gonna win this and everything
Madison Keys: is gonna be perfect. So I think that's that was
Madison Keys: a big shift for me. That helped a lot, just
Madison Keys: kind of knowing even throughout a match, there's gonna be
Madison Keys: ebbs and flows, and there's gonna be times when you're
Madison Keys: super locked in, and then there's gonna be times when
Madison Keys: you kind of get lost in the clouds. And I
Madison Keys: think the reason that the top players are so good
Madison Keys: is because when they do get lost in the clouds,
Madison Keys: they come back so quickly and without judgment. So I
Madison Keys: think that's kind of where I've gotten a lot better,
Madison Keys: just kind of being able to refocus and not have
Madison Keys: the judgment around the negative thoughts or things or doubts
Madison Keys: that pop up in my head and wasting time on
Madison Keys: being annoyed at myself for having them.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, so how much is you know? I love so
Rennae Stubbs: much that you talked about going to regular therapy and
Rennae Stubbs: not a sports psychologist, which a lot of people do.
Rennae Stubbs: And I'm a really big believer in. It's probably your
Rennae Stubbs: actual self that's the problem here, you know what I mean.
Rennae Stubbs: It's not necessarily how you react in a certain point,
Rennae Stubbs: it's how you perceive yourself. So even the way you've
Rennae Stubbs: just talked, now you know how much did actually just
Rennae Stubbs: going in to actual regular therapy and you're happy in
Rennae Stubbs: your life. It's not like you were fighting with your
Rennae Stubbs: boyfriend at the time and like you were going in
Rennae Stubbs: and I need to fix my or maybe you were,
Rennae Stubbs: I don't know, but like I'm pretty sure you weren't,
Rennae Stubbs: but I haven't hear we were crying. Pretty sure, I'd
Rennae Stubbs: beyond be hard to argue with. But but like, who
Rennae Stubbs: was the catalyst that said how about this? Or was
Rennae Stubbs: that all you? And I got to give Petko a
Rennae Stubbs: lot Andrea Petkovic a lot of credit because we were
Rennae Stubbs: talking about you know, your racket and beyond and the
Rennae Stubbs: service motion and all the things which we might get to.
Rennae Stubbs: But Petko's like, yeah, but she's the one that made
Rennae Stubbs: that decision. She's the one that decided to go to therapy,
Rennae Stubbs: so I want to know how that came about.
Rennae Stubbs: So it was it was kind of funny. I definitely
Rennae Stubbs: went originally and like sit down and I was like,
Rennae Stubbs: I want to make ten ofs better and I want
Rennae Stubbs: to be good and I want to have fun on
Rennae Stubbs: the court. And she was like okay, and then she
Rennae Stubbs: asked me one question about my life and I just
Rennae Stubbs: started like sobbing, and she was like, do we think
Rennae Stubbs: maybe this isn't just about tennis? And I was like, oh,
Rennae Stubbs: maybe you're onto something. But I was just to a point,
Rennae Stubbs: and I think I think the reason that a lot
Rennae Stubbs: of things are highlighted in tennis is because it's I mean,
Rennae Stubbs: it's high stress. You're out there by yourself. I mean,
Rennae Stubbs: it's just if you have anything going on, you put
Rennae Stubbs: yourself in tennis and it's just a pressure cooker. So
Rennae Stubbs: everything just feels amplified. And I think off of the court,
Rennae Stubbs: it's a lot easier to hide from any sort of
Rennae Stubbs: things that you're trying to ignore. Yeah, and then on
Rennae Stubbs: a tennis court, it's you double halt on breakpoint at
Rennae Stubbs: five all in the third and you're ready to just
Rennae Stubbs: completely lose your marbles. So I think for me, I
Rennae Stubbs: definitely started in the thought of, like, I just want
Rennae Stubbs: to make tennis better. My life is great, I'm fine,
Rennae Stubbs: I feel great about myself. I just you know, get
Rennae Stubbs: really more of us storing Kinnis matches. But I was
Rennae Stubbs: I was really struggling with my relationship with tennis, and
Rennae Stubbs: that's kind of a hard place to be when it's
Rennae Stubbs: not only your job, but your job basically consumes ninety
Rennae Stubbs: five percent of your life. And it was really kind
Rennae Stubbs: of starting to bleed over into my personal life. And
Rennae Stubbs: I think at the core of it, it was just
Rennae Stubbs: how I felt about myself, yeap. And I think that's
Rennae Stubbs: the tricky part about I mean about just deeply caring
Rennae Stubbs: about your career path and what you are very passionate about,
Rennae Stubbs: is it's hard to separate the two things. So when
Rennae Stubbs: you feel some way about something that you're doing, it
Rennae Stubbs: kind of it's all just one. So I was starting
Rennae Stubbs: to kind of just really struggle just overall. And I
Rennae Stubbs: would say that it was it was just kind of
Rennae Stubbs: starting to become a little bit more apparent to a
Rennae Stubbs: lot of people that hey, I think maybe you need
Rennae Stubbs: to go talk to someone, and it's obviously more obvious
Rennae Stubbs: on a tennis court. So it started with maybe it'll
Rennae Stubbs: help the tennis and all that, and then from there
Rennae Stubbs: it was really, you know, Okay, I think I need
Rennae Stubbs: to like work on some of my own beliefs that
Rennae Stubbs: have kind of started to become pretty deep inside.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah. I mean, honestly, I think it's such a phenomenal
Rennae Stubbs: thing that you're talking about it so openly, because I
Rennae Stubbs: think you'll hope so many people realize that, you know,
Rennae Stubbs: there's so much, especially someone as good as you, you know,
Rennae Stubbs: you cannot not help. But hear people say, but Madison's
Rennae Stubbs: so good, she hits the ball bigger than everybody. She
Rennae Stubbs: should be winning these matches. And at some point it
Rennae Stubbs: has to start, You have to. I would imagine you
Rennae Stubbs: would start thinking, well, why the fuck am I not
Rennae Stubbs: winning these matches? You know what I mean, And then
Rennae Stubbs: it starts to chip away at you just as a
Rennae Stubbs: human being. You know, you're just like, well, I'm just
Rennae Stubbs: not good enough, I guess you know. So I'm so
Rennae Stubbs: proud of you for doing that, because that's a huge
Rennae Stubbs: step to be able to go in and like dig
Rennae Stubbs: really deep into into your own life. So you know,
Rennae Stubbs: before we get back to the match, I want to
Rennae Stubbs: know quickly, who was the first phone call that you
Rennae Stubbs: made after you won? Because I mean, the people that
Rennae Stubbs: you love so much that have been in your corner,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, Kayla and Richard and beyond, they were there immediately,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, in tears and it was amazing. But who
Rennae Stubbs: was the first phone call you made?
Madison Keys: I called my mom?
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, what was her reaction?
Madison Keys: Honestly, it's funny. It's a lot of swear words, I
Madison Keys: love you tears, followed by I'm so proud of you.
Madison Keys: I mean, you could do it. I mean just it
Madison Keys: was just it was funny. It was funny then, and
Madison Keys: I was like, I am I am my mother's child.
Rennae Stubbs: You are definitely definitely, oh mean, I love that. I
Rennae Stubbs: figured it would be your mom. But you never know,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, Max might want you to call him first
Rennae Stubbs: for some reason.
Madison Keys: But you know, no, he was he was mess. He
Madison Keys: was like, you can't call me. I'm still weeping, Like
Madison Keys: I can't, I can't talk to you for a few
Madison Keys: days because I'm just gonna just weep.
Rennae Stubbs: Have you watched the match?
Madison Keys: Since I've watched some highlights, I have watched match.
Rennae Stubbs: Just so you know, I've watched the match three times.
Rennae Stubbs: I swear to god, I've watched it three times. It
Rennae Stubbs: was such a good tennis match.
Madison Keys: But anyway going, I've watched some highlights, but I haven't
Madison Keys: actually sat there and just like watched it. Fully. Yeah,
Madison Keys: there's definitely there are some highlights, and I feel like
Madison Keys: there's a few points that are just like.
Rennae Stubbs: On replay, which tell me which ones?
Madison Keys: Honestly, the one that I still cannot believe was five
Madison Keys: all thirty all in the third. The return, and I
Madison Keys: have no idea, but I remember just even like how
Madison Keys: I reacted after I made it, did you like fun?
Madison Keys: I was like, oh, that was a big point.
Rennae Stubbs: Well, I have to say to you you know, clearly
Rennae Stubbs: I was doing the coverage court side and Mary Joe Fernandez,
Rennae Stubbs: I believe, I'm not sure one hundred percent sure, but
Rennae Stubbs: I'm fairly certain she said, just deadpan, just went that
Rennae Stubbs: is the shot of the tournament, or it might be
Rennae Stubbs: in the match. It was like, you couldn't say anything
Rennae Stubbs: other than that because you were on the edge of
Rennae Stubbs: that precipice there, right, and you know, we all know
Rennae Stubbs: we can all talk about the US Open match, and
Rennae Stubbs: they were so similar the match with Sebolenka, like you
Rennae Stubbs: won the first set seeks love, and I was thinking,
Rennae Stubbs: did you think about losing a game in the first
Rennae Stubbs: set at the Australian Open, just so you didn't do
Rennae Stubbs: the same thing.
Madison Keys: You know. It's funny. I didn't even think of the
Madison Keys: match at the US Open at all. Well, didn't even
Madison Keys: popp into my head.
Rennae Stubbs: That is remarkable because I just getting ready to talk
Rennae Stubbs: to you today I saw of you know, I was
Rennae Stubbs: wanted to go back and watch that match because I
Rennae Stubbs: did the match, but I couldn't really remember. I know,
Rennae Stubbs: you're up a set in five to three, but I
Rennae Stubbs: have to say Sabalenka played off her trait from a
Rennae Stubbs: set in five to three.
Madison Keys: So I mean she played well and I think she
Madison Keys: played so well. And I think the thing that going
Madison Keys: into this final I kept saying to myself was she
Madison Keys: played brave. She went after her shot, she didn't back up,
Madison Keys: she went after everything. And I really wanted to make
Madison Keys: sure that I did that this match because I felt
Madison Keys: like at the US Open, I let my foot off
Madison Keys: the gas pedal one hundred and gave her more opportunities
Madison Keys: than she already is capable of creating by herself.
Rennae Stubbs: I actually wrote down here five three, fifteen thirty lazy legs. Yeah,
Rennae Stubbs: because you at fifteen thirty went had a chance to
Rennae Stubbs: maybe win the match at five to three in the
Rennae Stubbs: second set. You had a ball that was kind of
Rennae Stubbs: like mid range. It was like one of those ones
Rennae Stubbs: you could have got around and hit your beforehand, and
Rennae Stubbs: you chose to hit a backhand and you missed it.
Rennae Stubbs: And I remember thinking, if that was the stray and
Rennae Stubbs: Open this year, you would have absolutely got around and
Rennae Stubbs: crushed an inside out for hand, which you did on
Rennae Stubbs: match point. So I think that's the difference, and that's
Rennae Stubbs: an interesting so you can learn from your losses and
Rennae Stubbs: you do. What was the conversation with Bjorn after the
Rennae Stubbs: first set? I saw you go over. You had a
Rennae Stubbs: bit of a laugh. Actually she went off the court,
Rennae Stubbs: I think, and I think he might have been given
Rennae Stubbs: you a bit of crap about your slice backhand because
Rennae Stubbs: you went into a little bit of negative slice back
Rennae Stubbs: and maybe it was after the second set, but you guys, like,
Rennae Stubbs: what was the conversation that you were primary? That was
Rennae Stubbs: the primary thing that he was trying to get across
Rennae Stubbs: to you most of the time, particularly at the end.
Madison Keys: I think it was really just trying to get on
Madison Keys: the offense before she did, and I think that that
Madison Keys: was kind of the key, and I think the biggest
Madison Keys: thing in the second set. I thought she started doing
Madison Keys: a really great job of mixing things up. She started
Madison Keys: using her drop shot so well. And I think I
Madison Keys: don't even really remember what exactly we were talking about,
Madison Keys: but it was really just trying to try to stay
Madison Keys: on offense so that she can't do that as much,
Madison Keys: and just keep trying to stay close in the match
Madison Keys: and then just try to sink your teeth into it.
Madison Keys: And I remember before we switched sides, he kind of
Madison Keys: just said, like, it's fine, like you're going into a
Madison Keys: tiebreaker if you lose this game, Like go after some
Madison Keys: of the turns a little bit, just because I was
Madison Keys: kind of making some but they weren't good enough that
Madison Keys: she was usually either hitting a winner or getting on
Madison Keys: offense on her first ball. So he was like, fine,
Madison Keys: just like go after a little bit more like take
Madison Keys: a step back and take full cuts.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah. I looked at the stats today of the match,
Rennae Stubbs: and you hit two return winners in the entire match.
Rennae Stubbs: And you hit one in the third set and it
Rennae Stubbs: was the love fifteen and I was sitting next to
Rennae Stubbs: as you know, Laura Robson, who's one of your best friends,
Rennae Stubbs: and I hit her on the arm and I was like,
Rennae Stubbs: holy shit, she she's gonna win this match. And it
Rennae Stubbs: was just like, I want you to talk a little
Rennae Stubbs: bit about I always talk about the slope at this
Rennae Stubbs: train Open. There's a little bit of a slope, the
Rennae Stubbs: downhill slope from the President's end down. How much did
Rennae Stubbs: that help, like in the last game, because in the
Rennae Stubbs: game before you gestured to be on because he wanted
Rennae Stubbs: you to step up on the return and you said,
Rennae Stubbs: I can't. I don't know exact words, but you are
Rennae Stubbs: basically like. I can't really do it. Tell people how
Rennae Stubbs: at home, how the slope is a little bit difficult
Rennae Stubbs: at this train Open, and how being down one end
Rennae Stubbs: to the other is very difficult on return, and so well,
Rennae Stubbs: I think.
Madison Keys: It's a little bit of the slope. And it's also
Madison Keys: if there's any sort of breeze. It always comes from
Madison Keys: the end.
Rennae Stubbs: It's not in my opinion, it's not super typical, especially
Rennae Stubbs: on a big stadium, for it to be from one
Rennae Stubbs: baseline to the other. You usually have some sort of crosswind,
Rennae Stubbs: but this one is pretty strong from directly behind you.
Rennae Stubbs: So I think that along with the slope that one
Rennae Stubbs: side is it's easier to return and it's harder to serve.
Madison Keys: Oh it's not of the serve with the wind and
Madison Keys: the slope.
Rennae Stubbs: No. No, if you're on the other side, and I'm
Rennae Stubbs: saying if the wind is behind you or the wind
Rennae Stubbs: is in front of you, when the wind is in
Rennae Stubbs: your face and you're serving uphill, you can feel you
Rennae Stubbs: can feel the difference, and you kind of feel like
Rennae Stubbs: you're It's like, okay, usually my serve is like supposed
Rennae Stubbs: to help me, and all of a sudden, I feel
Rennae Stubbs: like I'm like behind somehow. So I think I kind
Rennae Stubbs: of I kind of knew that was there, and I
Rennae Stubbs: I just kind of was like, Okay, well, I'm just
Rennae Stubbs: gonna try to go a little bit extra on these,
Rennae Stubbs: just because at least the wind's not going to be
Rennae Stubbs: pushing it into me. Yeah, And for I mean, for
Rennae Stubbs: whatever reason, I just was like way more locked in
Rennae Stubbs: that game. Yeah, I mean it was so impressive, But
Rennae Stubbs: take me to the match point. When you got to
Rennae Stubbs: match point fifteen forty, which is a little bit of
Rennae Stubbs: a buffer, but also at the same time, it's kind
Rennae Stubbs: of like it almost makes you more nervous because you're like,
Rennae Stubbs: oh my god, I've. Got to You're like, oh my god,
Rennae Stubbs: if I lose this one, it's forty thirty, and then
Rennae Stubbs: if I lose that one, then it's duece. We hate
Rennae Stubbs: to tell people, but that is exactly what goes through
Rennae Stubbs: the mind. So what went through your mind at fifteen
Rennae Stubbs: forty because you played a phenomenal point to get to fifteen forty,
Rennae Stubbs: you got a couple of balls back that maybe people
Rennae Stubbs: thought you weren't going to get back, you speedy little devil.
Madison Keys: I think at forty fifteen it was just I just
Madison Keys: kind of kept thinking, like, she's probably gonna hit a
Madison Keys: great serve because I feel like whenever you back her
Madison Keys: into a corner is when she plays her best. So
Madison Keys: it was, you know, just expect it. Obviously hit a
Madison Keys: great serve, couldn't do anything about it, walked over to
Madison Keys: the other side, and I think all I really said
Madison Keys: to myself before the point was just try to have
Madison Keys: a good like deep middle return, just to try to
Madison Keys: be neutral, like I just don't want to be on
Madison Keys: defense right away. And I did and I think I
Madison Keys: actually hit it better than I thought. And the first
Madison Keys: ball came in the first forehand I hit, I didn't
Madison Keys: hit it clean and I wanted it to go more
Madison Keys: off the court and it went up the middle and
Madison Keys: I remember thinking, oh shit, like she might do something
Madison Keys: with that. And then she did it and it kind
Madison Keys: of came back to me and I was like, well,
Madison Keys: it's sour and never you might as well just go
Madison Keys: for it.
Rennae Stubbs: So really, that's when the ball came back to you.
Rennae Stubbs: You were a little bit sort of semi surprised at
Rennae Stubbs: old shit, she didn't do something with a lesser shot
Rennae Stubbs: of mules, and you said, fuck it, I'm going for it.
Madison Keys: Yeah, because I really wanted to. I mean, the whole
Madison Keys: point in the whole game plan for the match was
Madison Keys: to try to be on offense as quickly as possible.
Madison Keys: So as I kind of mishit it, I was a
Madison Keys: little annoy at myself because I was like, I should
Madison Keys: have done something better with the ball that I got. Yeah,
Madison Keys: And so the ball that came back, I was like, Okay,
Madison Keys: I can definitely do something with this, and I don't.
Madison Keys: I want to make sure I do more in the
Madison Keys: ball that I just hit or else. I'm definitely not
Madison Keys: getting another opportunity.
Rennae Stubbs: When it came off your racquet, did you know as
Rennae Stubbs: a stride winner because she was leaning for.
Madison Keys: No. I think I was still like creating for something
Madison Keys: to come back, because I feel like it is funny.
Madison Keys: I feel like watching the replays and watching the highlights,
Madison Keys: it's like it takes me a second to actually be like,
Madison Keys: oh shit, I did win. It's over.
Rennae Stubbs: You know, there were crazy stats in the third sit,
Rennae Stubbs: and I wrote a couple of them down and I
Rennae Stubbs: have no idea if you looked at the stats, probably not,
Rennae Stubbs: But you were getting crushed on your second serve in
Rennae Stubbs: the third set, and she was winning eighty two percent
Rennae Stubbs: on her second serve and you were winning fifty four percent.
Rennae Stubbs: She only won sixty eight percent of her first serf
Rennae Stubbs: and you won eighty five. So the difference with her
Rennae Stubbs: hitting first serfs, you were actually better off hitting her
Rennae Stubbs: first serf. Is that not a crazy stat? In the
Rennae Stubbs: third set?
Madison Keys: That is kind of crazy. Yeah.
Rennae Stubbs: I couldn't believe that stat when I saw it. And
Rennae Stubbs: you guys, there was one point that separated you in
Rennae Stubbs: the match and one point that separated you in the
Rennae Stubbs: third set. That's how close the match was overall.
Madison Keys: I mean it was I felt like it was one
Madison Keys: of those matches where her level wasn't amazing at the start.
Madison Keys: Mine was pretty good, and I think she really raised
Madison Keys: her level in the second set, and I hadn't quite
Madison Keys: cut up yet, and then I felt like the third
Madison Keys: set was just dogfight, really high level tennis on bull sides.
Rennae Stubbs: No, it was incredible third set, which is why I
Rennae Stubbs: think it's so fascinating that you didn't think about the
Rennae Stubbs: US Open because they were so similar in so many
Rennae Stubbs: ways other than the fact that you were well ahead
Rennae Stubbs: at the US Open, I felt like there was so
Rennae Stubbs: when I've watched it since, there was very similar. So
Rennae Stubbs: I'm pretty impressed that you didn't think about the US
Rennae Stubbs: Open in that match is probably what helped you get
Rennae Stubbs: through it, to be quite honest, is that you didn't
Rennae Stubbs: think about it. So after you when you know, there's
Rennae Stubbs: this tears, it's just such a great moment. Everybody, so
Rennae Stubbs: many people were so happy for you, Madi, including me.
Rennae Stubbs: I mean, there was a lot of tears. Mary Joe
Rennae Stubbs: Fernandez was having a hard time in the in the booth,
Rennae Stubbs: I was having a hard time. I was trying to
Rennae Stubbs: get through my last little bit about you. The thing
Rennae Stubbs: that impressed me the most is that you won that match.
Rennae Stubbs: She did not lose. That you won that match, which
Rennae Stubbs: is such a great feeling. But also talking about what everybody,
Rennae Stubbs: what you said about what you had to do in
Rennae Stubbs: the days after, is why I'm so happy that you
Rennae Stubbs: didn't go to the Middle East. What discussion was that,
Rennae Stubbs: Like with Beyond, I had a discussion with him actually
Rennae Stubbs: when I saw him that night, and I was like
Rennae Stubbs: don't let her go to the Middle East. I was like,
Rennae Stubbs: because one thing Sam Stosur said after the match, I
Rennae Stubbs: did a recap with her on my podcast and she said,
Rennae Stubbs: the one regret I have after winning the ucycle was
Rennae Stubbs: going to Asia because I didn't give myself the time
Rennae Stubbs: to take it all in and enjoy it. So what
Rennae Stubbs: was the reasoning behind not going to the Middle East
Rennae Stubbs: and what's the thought process now going into Indian wells?
Madison Keys: Well, there was a lot of back and forth on it,
Madison Keys: and I had obviously, I mean I obviously played the
Madison Keys: whole tournament with my leg taped up as well, which
Madison Keys: it wasn't ever really a hindrance, but it was also
Madison Keys: still something that I was like, it's obviously not one
Madison Keys: hundred percent, so that was obviously also part of it,
Madison Keys: was also a factor in it, but it was I
Madison Keys: think by the time I got home and had actually
Madison Keys: like finally had just a day at home where I
Madison Keys: didn't have to do anything, I think I would have
Madison Keys: had to have got I think it was like eight
Madison Keys: or eight days, and I was gonna have to travel again. Yeah,
Madison Keys: And obviously the flight home is it's over. It's over.
Madison Keys: It's like a twenty eight hour day of travel, and
Madison Keys: so I was thinking, Okay, eight days later, I'm gonna
Madison Keys: have to do another twenty hour plus travel day play
Madison Keys: two weeks, fly all the way to the last coast,
Madison Keys: so then go to the east coast, and then you
Madison Keys: have a few weeks and then you go back to Europe.
Madison Keys: And I just I was like, Okay, there's no way
Madison Keys: I can get on a plane in eight days. Yeah,
Madison Keys: and I just I'm still I was so even the
Madison Keys: week that I started hitting. I think I started hitting
Madison Keys: like the Monday after we got home, so I had
Madison Keys: four or five days off, and even then I was
Madison Keys: still exhausted, just mentally, emotionally, just so tired, and I
Madison Keys: kept kind of thinking like maybe we still just do Dubai.
Madison Keys: But then it's also like it's so far for one tournament,
Madison Keys: and it just it was just kind of like the
Madison Keys: pros and cons of do you go all that way,
Madison Keys: maybe have a good tournament, maybe not, And it just
Madison Keys: it felt so rushed, and I still it took me
Madison Keys: like a full week of practice to finally feel like
Madison Keys: I was back to myself. And so I was like,
Madison Keys: why am I going to go put myself in a
Madison Keys: bad situation where I'm finally feeling better on the court,
Madison Keys: I'm finally feeling like myself again. Why am I going
Madison Keys: to try to like rush and put myself in this
Madison Keys: situation where I don't feel ready because I'm not. I
Madison Keys: haven't had enough time to fully recover. Why why would
Madison Keys: I do that to myself?
Rennae Stubbs: I think that's called maturity, and I think, and I'm
Rennae Stubbs: serious when I tell you this, Like it was the
Rennae Stubbs: one thing that Sam said in the pod. She's like,
Rennae Stubbs: I hope she doesn't I said, I have a feeling
Rennae Stubbs: she probably won't go, but he goes. I hope she
Rennae Stubbs: doesn't go because it's the one regret that I have
Rennae Stubbs: because it's so overwhelming what you've just gone through and
Rennae Stubbs: you have to take it in right. And one of
Rennae Stubbs: the things that Sam said is you also have to
Rennae Stubbs: always remember just because you won the ustrae and Open,
Rennae Stubbs: or in Sam's case, the US Open, doesn't mean you're
Rennae Stubbs: going to win the next match, you know, so you
Rennae Stubbs: have to be willing to be prepared to, you know,
Rennae Stubbs: go through the hard work again and deal with that because,
Rennae Stubbs: as you already pointed out, tennis is really hard. You
Rennae Stubbs: don't have an off season to enjoy this big win.
Rennae Stubbs: So how has everything been like preparing now and getting
Rennae Stubbs: yourself ready for an Indian Wells? Where do you feel
Rennae Stubbs: like you are emotionally and mentally?
Madison Keys: I feel like it's it's been a good amount of
Madison Keys: time for me to be back on court, and I
Madison Keys: feel like, I mean, like I said, it felt like
Madison Keys: it took seven to ten days to finally find my
Madison Keys: feet again. And I think the other thing that's really
Madison Keys: funny is I'm sure Sam experienced as well as now,
Madison Keys: all of a sudden you're dealing with your own expectations
Madison Keys: all of a sudden dramatically changing. So what But I
Madison Keys: think I've had to be really honest with myself and
Madison Keys: know that that's going to be something that I'm going
Madison Keys: to have to work through because it's a totally normal
Madison Keys: thing to happen. But it's also like no one really
Madison Keys: thrives when you're going out and thinking like I have
Madison Keys: to win everything now. So I think that's going to
Madison Keys: be I mean, that's going to be my new challenge.
Madison Keys: And obviously it's it's a really good place to obviously
Madison Keys: be in to have to like learn how to deal
Madison Keys: with that pressure because it means that you've done some
Madison Keys: really big things. But it's definitely something new that I'm
Madison Keys: going to have to figure out how to whether the
Madison Keys: storm that I'm creating.
Rennae Stubbs: Especially like, yeah, especially in the US.
Madison Keys: And I think that's It's also been a good amount
Madison Keys: of time for me to get to the point of
Madison Keys: realization because at first I was like, yeah, no, I'm
Madison Keys: totally cool, Like I'm just gonna think this exact same
Madison Keys: way and everything will be fine. And I was like, Okay, well,
Madison Keys: you're lying to yourself. So once we get to the
Madison Keys: point of like honesty, then we can move forward and
Madison Keys: we can work that way.
Rennae Stubbs: So have you been back to your therapist?
Madison Keys: Multiple times?
Rennae Stubbs: Okay, so great, I'm glad you said that. What was
Rennae Stubbs: the first conversation. What was what was the first like
Rennae Stubbs: one two minutes, like when you walked in the door
Rennae Stubbs: to see her or him.
Madison Keys: Just like immediately tears. I was like, I'm so happy,
Madison Keys: I'm so happy. But then it was it was really
Madison Keys: good because even after my match, I got the assign
Madison Keys: to do a lot of writing and just make sure
Madison Keys: that you put all of it out there and really
Madison Keys: kind of live in all of the moments. And there
Madison Keys: was definitely a little bit like I had already kind
Madison Keys: of gone into okay, but what next? And she was
Madison Keys: very quick to be like, hmm, let's like, let's let's
Madison Keys: take this win. Let's like live in the wind a
Madison Keys: little bit longer. Yeah, just to just really like just
Madison Keys: appreciate it. It's just like you work so hard for it.
Madison Keys: It's it would be such a shame to not actually
Madison Keys: enjoy it and just immediately shift into Okay, there's a
Madison Keys: new tournament next week, like gotta go do that.
Rennae Stubbs: Does it get to be a little bit more like
Rennae Stubbs: exciting what you now know that you're capable of doing
Rennae Stubbs: under the most incredible duress. I mean, as I said,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, for people that don't know your drawl was
Rennae Stubbs: insane and you beat some of the best, if not
Rennae Stubbs: arguably the best players in the world are at the
Rennae Stubbs: Grand Slam. You know, you beat Eager, you beat Rybakina,
Rennae Stubbs: you beat Sabalenka. It's like you beat Switzerland, who's been
Rennae Stubbs: there a million times. Like you beat Danielle Collins, Like
Rennae Stubbs: you beat so many people in that tournament that know
Rennae Stubbs: what it's like to be deep into a Grand Slam
Rennae Stubbs: and to win them. I also now know watch out
Rennae Stubbs: people because Madison knows now how to win the big matches.
Rennae Stubbs: And so how much does that actually excite you going forward?
Madison Keys: It's been really exciting, and I think that I think
Madison Keys: I feel really grounded as well. I think I have
Madison Keys: a really have just some of the best people around me,
Madison Keys: and it's probably the most honest that I've been just
Madison Keys: where I'm at and what's going on in my brain.
Madison Keys: And I feel like they have helped me navigate so
Madison Keys: many moments. And even before before I played Iga in
Madison Keys: the Semis, my fitness trainer just looked at me and said,
Madison Keys: you know that, like you're worthy of this, like you
Madison Keys: can do it, and just like immediate tears. And then
Madison Keys: he made me say it back to him and I
Madison Keys: was like I can't, Like I actually can't say it,
Madison Keys: and he's like, no, no, no, like you're gonna say it.
Madison Keys: And it's I mean, it's it's little things like that
Madison Keys: that I don't think people like saying that. I don't
Madison Keys: think people really understand like how much of an impact
Madison Keys: that makes. Yeah, but it makes a huge impact. And
Madison Keys: it's just that little bit that you know deep in
Madison Keys: the third that you have something to hang on to.
Madison Keys: So I think I'm really excited about obviously what I
Madison Keys: can do, but I think I'm more excited just with
Madison Keys: the people that are around me and getting to have,
Madison Keys: you know, hopefully a really good season, but just I mean,
Madison Keys: I've just been so happy to be at this point
Madison Keys: in my career and have the people that I have.
Madison Keys: It's just it's honestly just kind of like icing on
Madison Keys: the cake.
Rennae Stubbs: I think that's why we saw all the tears from
Rennae Stubbs: your team. We knew we were going to get tears
Rennae Stubbs: from beyond, but to see Kaylor, to see Richard like
Rennae Stubbs: just to see them because they know how much and
Rennae Stubbs: we know we see you guys together all the time.
Rennae Stubbs: We know what you guys have been through, and particularly
Rennae Stubbs: with your ill you know your injuries and everything that
Rennae Stubbs: you've had. I mean Wimbledon last year, I thought you
Rennae Stubbs: were playing unbelievable. But does that give you a lot
Rennae Stubbs: of hope knowing that if physically you can stand up
Rennae Stubbs: to it now mentally you know you can. How much
Rennae Stubbs: does that help you? Because I can tell you I've
Rennae Stubbs: said this to people. I'm not putting any pressure on you,
Rennae Stubbs: but you are good enough to win every single Grand
Rennae Stubbs: Slam because you can play on every surface. So you
Rennae Stubbs: know not to put pressure on you know, not to
Rennae Stubbs: do it to yourself, but you know, I want you
Rennae Stubbs: to feel that way like when you go into those
Rennae Stubbs: slams now, that's where your head should be. You are
Rennae Stubbs: worthy of that. Do you feel that?
Madison Keys: Yeah, well that I definitely feel like I've It's kind
Madison Keys: of like it's like, Okay, you finally you finally knock
Madison Keys: the wall down that you had been struggling against. And
Madison Keys: I think now it's such a it's such a exciting
Madison Keys: place to be because you know how you knock the
Madison Keys: wall down and you know that you can. You have
Madison Keys: people also there that can help support you through that,
Madison Keys: and I think there's just I mean, there's so many
Madison Keys: weeks of the year that you can that we can
Madison Keys: do really, you know, great things. And I feel like
Madison Keys: it's I feel like I'm finally like probably the most
Madison Keys: me and the most connected to myself that I've ever been. Yeah,
Madison Keys: and I feel like that's how me just so much
Madison Keys: on the court.
Rennae Stubbs: So I didn't ask you. I asked you about the
Rennae Stubbs: first moment where you had by yourself where you like
Rennae Stubbs: sunk in. But was there a moment when you were
Rennae Stubbs: like with beyond I don't know, lying in bed or
Rennae Stubbs: waking up in the morning and you just looked at
Rennae Stubbs: each other and went, oh, my fucking god, we did it.
Madison Keys: I think it was that moment actually happened pretty quickly.
Madison Keys: But we got back to the room and it was
Madison Keys: like literally like almost three am, both so delirious and tired,
Madison Keys: but just I'm cloud dying and he just looked at
Madison Keys: me and he was like, holy shit, like you just
Madison Keys: you just won the Australian Oup. It like that that
Madison Keys: actually happened. I know, it's crazy, but it's been really
Madison Keys: cool too. I mean, I think it's it's fairly rare
Madison Keys: in the sport to be able to have your significant
Madison Keys: other when you win the big moments, but to really
Madison Keys: like do it together. Yeah, it's been. I mean it's
Madison Keys: it's honestly one of the coolest things.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, I mean, we know we've talked about the service change, which,
Rennae Stubbs: by the way, I thought you should have done years
Rennae Stubbs: ago as well, just so I was like, why doesn't
Rennae Stubbs: she step up on a serve? I don't get it.
Rennae Stubbs: You're serving the ball so much harder now. You hit
Rennae Stubbs: zero double faults in the final zero, which is unbelievable
Rennae Stubbs: considering I know that you were struggling a little bit
Rennae Stubbs: with getting the timing on the second serve because it
Rennae Stubbs: felt a little bit different. But that also shows to
Rennae Stubbs: people at home, like it doesn't matter how old you are,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, and relatively you're still so young, but at
Rennae Stubbs: thirty you kind of like, well, I've been playing professional
Rennae Stubbs: tennis now for fifteen years, Like really, I'm going to
Rennae Stubbs: change my service motion and I changed my racket, I'm
Rennae Stubbs: going to change all my strings, like this is crazy.
Rennae Stubbs: But also it shows you and Petko said, that also
Rennae Stubbs: shows how gutsy you were to do that, because there's
Rennae Stubbs: been some people that have changed rackets and changed this
Rennae Stubbs: and changed that, and they've gone downhill real fast.
Rennae Stubbs: You know. I think about Radwanska when she changed the racket.
Rennae Stubbs: She couldn't win a match after that. So it's like
Rennae Stubbs: that was gutsy of you and the belief and the
Rennae Stubbs: trust that you obviously have and beyond and his just
Rennae Stubbs: his tennis nerdy brain. It's just awesome to see. I
Rennae Stubbs: just like him, so I love him so much. Who
Rennae Stubbs: was the coolest person that reached out to you the
Rennae Stubbs: text or the call and you were like.
Madison Keys: Little Wayne DMed me. We had like a back and
Madison Keys: forth which was very funny, but it was funny. I
Madison Keys: was making breakfast one morning and I got a phone
Madison Keys: call and I didn't have the number saved, and I
Madison Keys: was I just answered. I don't know why, but I
Madison Keys: was like hello, and she's like, Madi, it's Kim. I
Madison Keys: was like she's like, yeah, it's Kim. And I was like,
Madison Keys: oh my god, thanks Kim talking about yes And it
Madison Keys: meant the world to me because after I lost in
Madison Keys: after I lost you an open final, I saw her
Madison Keys: right after the match and she gave me the biggest
Madison Keys: hug and the biggest kiss on the cheek and said
Madison Keys: it's okay. I've been there, You're gonna do it like
Madison Keys: it'll be okay, I promise. But I mean it just
Madison Keys: was like so full circle that that was probably my favorite.
Rennae Stubbs: I think that's so interesting because everyone thinks, oh, you
Rennae Stubbs: know this person or that person, but it just shows
Rennae Stubbs: you that you go back to being a little kid,
Rennae Stubbs: right And you know, Kim Clijsters was like your idol
Rennae Stubbs: and you played so you played so similarly to her.
Rennae Stubbs: She just wishes she had yourself. But anyway, all right,
Rennae Stubbs: I'm gonna ask you just a couple more questions. Is
Rennae Stubbs: You've been so great to spend a lot of time,
Rennae Stubbs: but I did put out a question to social media
Rennae Stubbs: and I wanted, you know, my listeners to like throw
Rennae Stubbs: in some questions to you, and one of them was
Rennae Stubbs: how do you balance the work and home life dynamics
Rennae Stubbs: with your husband beyond.
Madison Keys: You know what's funny everyone asked us that, and I
Madison Keys: feel like it's not really something that we struggle with.
Madison Keys: I think partially because since we both played already, we
Madison Keys: were so good at being tennis court life and it's
Madison Keys: I don't even know if we necessarily ever really like
Madison Keys: switch on or switch off. It's just so a part
Madison Keys: of our life that I mean, in the middle of
Madison Keys: dinner and again, like you said, he's like the biggest
Madison Keys: tennis nerd on the planet, and I swear to god,
Madison Keys: Wh'll wake up at like five am sometimes and like
Madison Keys: be thinking of just the most like absurd, random thing
Madison Keys: and then all of a sudden he's like on YouTube.
Madison Keys: It's like five point thirty in the morning and he's
Madison Keys: on YouTube like looking something up because he like wanted
Madison Keys: to see something. But but it'll just happen like at
Madison Keys: breakfast where he's you know, I've been struggling on something
Madison Keys: in practice, and all of a sudden it'll click for
Madison Keys: him and he was like, oh, I know who hit
Madison Keys: this ball amazingly well, and then he's like searching some
Madison Keys: player literally from any era, which is always the thing
Madison Keys: that blows my mind. And he's like, okay, so you
Madison Keys: see how they do that, and like, you guys have
Madison Keys: similar grips, and like, so it's that'll happen at breakfast
Madison Keys: or at dinner or whatever, or in the middle of practice,
Madison Keys: like something will pop into my head where I'm like,
Madison Keys: oh shit, like someone's coming to the house tomorrow at
Madison Keys: this time, Like I totally forgot you need to like
Madison Keys: put that in your phone so that you know when
Madison Keys: someone's at the house. So it's just I mean, we're
Madison Keys: really good at just kind of bouncing in and out,
Madison Keys: and he's very good about as much as it keeps
Madison Keys: him awake at night, you know. Yeah, Like there's times
Madison Keys: when if I'm on the couch watching HGTV while scrolling TikTok,
Madison Keys: like it's not the time to try to bring up Hey,
Madison Keys: So in practice tomorrow.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, yeah, that's good. That would be that would be
Rennae Stubbs: that would be interesting. You guys are such a good relationship,
Rennae Stubbs: were able to be like top to the hand not
Rennae Stubbs: now all right, this was a great question. This is
Rennae Stubbs: the last one from social because I'd said I don't
Rennae Stubbs: asked one or two. So a lot of the answers
Rennae Stubbs: you've already given have been questions that people have asked.
Rennae Stubbs: But based on her experience, what advice would she give
Rennae Stubbs: to an aspiring champion to let go of the weight
Rennae Stubbs: of expectation and help them reach their full potential. Was
Rennae Stubbs: there a key aspect in your mental work that triggered
Rennae Stubbs: that mindset shift and that was a feely I think
Rennae Stubbs: I got that name right. But that was a great question.
Madison Keys: I thought, that's a very good question. I think, I mean,
Madison Keys: I think it'd be hard to just give you a
Madison Keys: blanket answer that would just everyone would feel the same,
Madison Keys: because obviously everyone's very different. I know for me that
Madison Keys: it took a lot of kind of talking through things,
Madison Keys: and I think as I started talking about more things,
Madison Keys: I started learning things about myself, kind of discovering things
Madison Keys: that I thought about myself that I didn't even know
Madison Keys: that was really there. But one day, one day we
Madison Keys: were talking and I was saying something, and I remember
Madison Keys: saying the statement. It was something along the lines of
Madison Keys: I've I don't think that I have played to my
Madison Keys: potential because I was supposed to be great and I
Madison Keys: haven't reached that yet. And saying that out loud for
Madison Keys: the first time, I like, I really didn't think that
Madison Keys: was something that I felt about myself, and I had
Madison Keys: to really deal with feeling like I had failed and
Madison Keys: getting over the hurdle of if I never went a
Madison Keys: grand slam, I'm not a failure. That's not the blanket.
Madison Keys: That's not like the line of you've had a successful
Madison Keys: career or you have it, and I think it's really
Madison Keys: hard kind of place to live as a tennis player
Madison Keys: because that kind of is what a lot of people
Madison Keys: make as success. And you look around and you say, like,
Madison Keys: Svitolina has had a phenomenal career, phenomenal like in no
Madison Keys: world where anyone would say that she was a failure.
Madison Keys: Yes, ever yeah. And she never won a Grand Slam.
Madison Keys: But like, and I think that was it was a
Madison Keys: hard thing for me because I would look at other
Madison Keys: people and I'd be like, no, they're they've had phenomenal careers,
Madison Keys: like they're not a failure, and all I had to
Madison Keys: turn that back on myself and say, well, wait, no,
Madison Keys: like I've I've done some pretty good things, Like I've
Madison Keys: had a pretty successful career, Like I would definitely if
Madison Keys: you told me, at you know, ten years old, the
Madison Keys: achievements that I have, I would take like, I would
Madison Keys: say that was a really good career. So that was
Madison Keys: kind of my That was kind of my struggle to
Madison Keys: work through. And it really just all came back to
Madison Keys: not having won a Slam. It felt like I needed
Madison Keys: it in order to have any sort of validation for
Madison Keys: my career, and I needed to figure out how to
Madison Keys: find my own validation, not in the trophies that I
Madison Keys: had or I didn't have. Yeah.
Rennae Stubbs: Yeah, And you don't have to worry about ever saying
Rennae Stubbs: that to yourself, even though you realize even if you
Rennae Stubbs: hadn't wont it, your life would not and your career
Rennae Stubbs: would not have been a failure because you've, as you said,
Rennae Stubbs: you've achieved some incredible things. Is there a part of you
Rennae Stubbs: that thinks this I'm I'm going to keep striving for more.
Rennae Stubbs: Like you know, I know that you can improve your
Rennae Stubbs: full hand drop shot. That's a joke, but let's face it,
Rennae Stubbs: if you have that on clay Madi, you're gonna kill it.
Rennae Stubbs: You're gonna kill it. Everyone's gonna be running back and
Rennae Stubbs: you can just get that little dropper might be good
Rennae Stubbs: at Indian Wells and just say it the volley's listen.
Rennae Stubbs: I know Beyond appreciates like helping you with things. I
Rennae Stubbs: can help you with that little inside out back in volley,
Rennae Stubbs: that's my go to. Can I can help you with
Rennae Stubbs: that one?
Madison Keys: I mean, yeah, I definitely think that. I'm I feel
Madison Keys: like at this point, the kind of the sky is
Madison Keys: the limit. I know that. It's funny because you know,
Madison Keys: when you're thirty in sports, it's like, oh, it's a miracle.
Madison Keys: She's not up there.
Rennae Stubbs: You're peaking. You're just at the start of the peak.
Madison Keys: But it's like, I feel like, as long as as
Madison Keys: long as my body can hold up and as long
Madison Keys: as I can stay healthy, I feel like there's just
Madison Keys: still so much room to improve. And I feel I mean,
Madison Keys: I feel like the best physically that I have felt
Madison Keys: in many, many years. So I feel like there's just
Madison Keys: still so much opportunity.
Rennae Stubbs: Well, I just got excited thinking about it, because you
Rennae Stubbs: know how much I love you, you know how much
Rennae Stubbs: I believe in you. So I'm just saying, clay, that's
Rennae Stubbs: your jam too. Grass. We know you can play well
Rennae Stubbs: on grass. And now that you're serving with the feed up,
Rennae Stubbs: you know, and you get a little bit more pop
Rennae Stubbs: on that serve, even more free points. And the US Open,
Rennae Stubbs: we know how well you played there, so no pressure.
Rennae Stubbs: I just think, you know, why not go for a
Rennae Stubbs: career Grand Slam in one year?
Madison Keys: Let's go.
Rennae Stubbs: Talk to the little Madi down there. I'm sure, I'm
Rennae Stubbs: sure a little Madi I'll agree, right, now. But anyway, Madi,
Rennae Stubbs: I love you so much. I'm so freaking freaking proud
Rennae Stubbs: of you. I got to see you coming out of
Rennae Stubbs: your press I was leaving to go get transportation and
Rennae Stubbs: you walk down from all your media, which was like
Rennae Stubbs: two thirty in the morning, and I was leaving and
Rennae Stubbs: I just looked at you and I'm just so incredibly
Rennae Stubbs: I know how much you've gone through. We've seen each
Rennae Stubbs: other in a lot of hallways and locker rooms, a
Rennae Stubbs: lot of tears, and it was just great to see
Rennae Stubbs: you crying, knowing that you finally did something that we
Rennae Stubbs: all know you were capable of, and you did it
Rennae Stubbs: so well.
Madison Keys: Thank you.
Rennae Stubbs: I'll see you in Indian Wells. I'll come and watch
Rennae Stubbs: your first match, and I can't wait for it. Madi Keys,
Rennae Stubbs: thank you so much for it, for joining me today.
Madison Keys: Thank you