Inspiring Keys Has One of Highest Levels on Tour

By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Monday, March 10, 2025
Photo credits: Justin Setterfield/Getty

High spirits helped Madison Keys win the Happy Slam, says Coco Gauff.

Before Keys dethroned defending champion Aryna Sabalenka to claim her maiden major at the Australian Open, the WTA Finals champion Gauff noticed her compatriot was in a positive place.

In the offseason, Keys wed long-time partner and coach Bjorn Fratangelo in a Charleston wedding she called “the happiest day of my life.”

Gauff believes personal bliss helped Keys relax and reach major promised land eight years and 25 Grand Slam appearances after she lost her maiden major final to good friend Sloane Stephens.

“She definitely has one of the highest levels on tour. It’s good to see, like, she get a slam and she deserved it,” Gauff said of Keys. “She just looks a lot happier lately. I think that was kind of the biggest change more than anything technically in her game.

“I think she just gives more positive—not that she’s ever negative, but I feel like I can feel energy off of people, and when I’m around her, she seems a bit happier.

“Even before winning Australia, to me she felt like she was happier around the locker room and things like that. I usually feel when players are in that mindset they tend to do better. So it’s good to see her, like, win and also be kind of happy while doing it.”

The fifth-seeded Keys rides a 14-match winning streak into her Indian Wells round of 16 clash vs. either Emma Navarro or Belinda Bencic.

If Keys prevails and Gauff beats Belinda Bencic, then the American power players would square off in the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals.