"She just blitzed everybody there" - Madison Keys' coach believes the American's form was highest at Adelaide International
WTA
Although Madison Keys appeared to play the best two weeks of her career at the 2025 Australian Open, her husband/coach Bjorn Fratangelo claims the American was even better at a tournament prior to the Grand Slam.
Seeded 19th at Melbourne, Keys shocked the tennis community as she defeated the likes of Elena Rybakina and former World No.1 Iga Swiatek en route to the final. The 29-year old would face two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling final, defeating the Belarusian in three sets to claim her maiden Grand Slam title.
Keys could have played even better, says Fratangelo
The Illinois native had looked formidable prior to the first Grand Slam of the season. Keys powered through the field at the preceding Adelaide International, defeating top seed Jessica Pegula in the final. In an appearance on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Fratangelo shared some insight into her mindset and from as she prepared for the Australian Open.
"I just felt from a tennis side I needed to work her brain so it wasn’t so Slam-centric to where it was like the other tournaments matter too," said Fratangelo. “Now you see, she has played the week before Slams and all her titles with me, except for AO, have been the week before Slams, where she would have never played before.
"We had to have a couple of hard conversations where we were like let’s be real, when you go into a Grand Slam there are five to eight people who can realistically win the tournament. I said do you think you are one of these people? If the answer is no then let’s go play these 500’s because there are 500 points just sitting there.
“The Strasbourg title she won on clay last year before Roland Garros, you got a bye, you won four matches to win the 500, she played unreal the whole tournament and probably took four hours and 15 minutes on court that week and there’s 500 points.
“A lot of girls were tapping out because they wanted to get to wherever the Slam is going to be, so let’s just be here, take the 500 points and then we will go to the Grand Slam, play the matches and now you’re match-ready and will be fine. So she did that and like I said all her titles recently have come the weeks before Slams, because she is there. She’s there a bit more mentally than everyone else.
"Adelaide [this year before Australian Open], I actually thought she played unbelievably. It was her best level that I’ve seen from her. Even higher than AO. The matches she played in Adelaide, she was hitting the ball unbelievably. And the nervy moments of the second set of the Rybakina match, there was none of that.
“She just blitzed everybody there. The match with [Jessica] Pegula was tighter but it never felt like she would lose that match, the way that she was playing."
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