Agency;
Madison Keys won her first-ever Grand Slam title on Saturday as she upset two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the Australian Open final in Melbourne.
Keys was born in in 1995 in Rock Island, Illinois, to Rick and Christine. Her father was also an athlete as he played Division III college basketball at Augustana College, graduating in 1986. Her mother is a lawyer.
Keys has an older sister named Sydney, along with younger sisters Montana and Hunter.
She started playing tennis at the age of four. Having made her professional debut in 2009 aged 14, Keys won her first title on the ITF circuit in 2010 and added two more in 2012.
In 2013, she broke into the top 100 before finishing the year ranked as world number 39. Her first WTA title came at 2014 Eastbourne International .The following year, she reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon as well as the semifinals of the Australian Open, where she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams.
She missed out on a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics 2016, losing to Czech Petra Kvitova in three sets.
She reached her first Grand Slam final at the 2017 US Open, falling to compatriot Sloane Stephens in straight sets.
The biggest title of her career before the triumph in Melbourne came at the 2019 Cincinnati Open after she defeated two-time Major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final.
She started the 2025 season on a high by clinching her ninth WTA Tour singles title at the Adelaide International, which she also won in 2022.
After reaching the Australian Open semifinals in 2015 and 2022, Keys reached this year’s final with a victory over five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek despite facing a match point.
Keys is the second-oldest woman to claim her first Australian Open singles title in the Open era after China’s Li Na, who was 31 when she triumphed at Melbourne Park in 2014.
On Monday, Keys will equal her career-high ranking of 7 when the new WTA Rankings will be released.
