Serena Williams congratulates Madison Keys on historic Australian Open victory: "She invested in her career"

Serena Williams congratulates Madison Keys after winning her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. The 29-year-old player defeated two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, becoming the oldest player to win the Melbourne title since Serena herself defeated her sister Venus Williams in a memorable final in 2017.

Keys had previously reached a Grand Slam final but suffered a painful loss, 3-6, 0-6, against her friend Sloane Stephens at the 2017 US Open. Over seven years later, she found a new opportunity to make history, defeating Elena Rybakina, Elina Svitolina, and Iga Swiatek along the way, before surprising World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

Williams celebrates Madison Keys’ first major title

The 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams shared a video on social media to congratulate her former collegue. "We just saw Madison Keys, congrats to her, winning the Australian Open today. She is just an amazing player. I got to play her a lot, and now she just won the Australian Open," Williams said in a video posted on X.

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Keys’ forehand has often been compared to Serena’s due to its incredible power, a comparison even acknowledged by Sabalenka during the post-match press conference. "Yes. Today was very fast, very deep, very aggressive. Yeah, that was a great level from her," Sabalenka remarked.

The retired tennis legend, a seven-time Australian Open champion (2003, ’05, ’07, ’09, ’10, ’15, ’17), praised Keys for never ceasing to invest her time in tennis and improving her game. "She is so awesome, but it also is something I was thinking about – she invested in her career, and she invested time into tennis, into just being the best that she could be," Serena added in her tribute to Keys.

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WTA Rankings after Australian Open: Champion Madison Keys equals career high as Aryna Sabalenka remains World No.1

Keys rose to her career-best ranking of World No. 7 this Monday, extending her winning streak to 12 matches, the best start of her career to a season. She will return to action in a couple of weeks at the Doha Open.

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