{"id":438180,"date":"2026-01-26T08:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438180\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T08:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:20:09","slug":"madison-keyss-world-hasnt-ended-now-her-australian-open-defence-is-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438180\/","title":{"rendered":"Madison Keys’s world hasn’t ended now her Australian Open defence is over"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were no tears or tantrums once Madison Keys left Rod Laver Arena, knowing her Australian Open title defence had come to an end.<\/p>\n

She even found time to give Jessica Pegula a fist pump in the players’ gym after her close friend had won their fourth-round match in straight sets.<\/p>\n

Although disappointed to have exited the tournament at the beginning of the second week, Keys was able to apply perspective to the result.<\/p>\n

“It’s not like the world is ending because I lost today,” Keys said in the wake of her 6-3, 6-4 loss to sixth-seeded Pegula.<\/p>\n

“I have 11 months of the year left and there is still lots to be proud of, and I’m still going to go out and work on new things and try to implement them in the next tournament.<\/p>\n

“Obviously [I’m] disappointed, but I’m really trying to not live and die on every single win and loss at this point in my career.”<\/p>\n

Keys reached the peak of her career so far when she claimed the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at Melbourne Park 12 months ago.<\/p>\n

\"Madison<\/p>\n

Madison Keys lifted the trophy at Melbourne Park last year. (AP: Ng Han Guan)<\/p>\n

Her gripping three-set win over Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s final helped the American climb to a career-high world ranking of five in February.<\/p>\n

But the 2025 season was not without its challenges for Keys, highlighted by her first-round defeat to Renata Zaraz\u00faa at the US Open.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old’s Australian Open lead-in form was not promising, as she lost in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane and Adelaide Internationals.<\/p>\n

Jovi\u0107 backing herself against Sabalenka<\/a><\/p>\n

Iva Jovi\u0107 refuses to be intimidated about facing two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

Keys, who was seeded ninth, is adamant she will not let her Australian Open exit define the season ahead.<\/p>\n

“None of us want to lose,” Keys said.<\/p>\n

“I certainly don’t want to be sitting here as the loser.<\/p>\n

“But it’s just you walk into every single tournament and there is only going to be one happy person at the end of every single tournament.<\/p>\n

“When we play 11 months out of the year, and you play almost every single week, you can’t maintain the roller coaster of the highs of winning and the lows of being devastated every single week.<\/p>\n

“So I think it’s really just trying to kind of have a little bit more of objective perspective of what you did well, what you didn’t do well, and just not attaching your self-worth, I guess, to every win and loss.”<\/p>\n

‘A bet is a bet’<\/p>\n

For now, Keys says she will be cheering on Pegula, who advanced to the fourth Australian Open quarterfinal of her career.<\/p>\n

But there is still unfinished business between the two.<\/p>\n

Keys and Pegula had a friendly bet on the match, with the victor choosing a punishment for the vanquished.<\/p>\n

\"Madison<\/p>\n

Jessica Pegula (left) and Madison Keys enjoy a close friendship. (AP: Mark Baker)<\/p>\n

And what challenge did Pegula set for Keys?<\/p>\n

Eat a slice of apple pie, topped with cheddar cheese.<\/p>\n

“A bet is a bet, so I’ll do it,” Keys said.<\/p>\n

“I hope it’s less gross than I think it’s going to be but we will find out, I guess.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were no tears or tantrums once Madison Keys left Rod Laver Arena, knowing her Australian Open title…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,6571,185880,228318,27488,68138,188599,81246,85,747],"class_list":["post-438180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-open","tag-fourth-round","tag-jessica-pegual","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-madison-keys","tag-melbourne-park","tag-quarterfinal","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}