Sports Al Dente

When Madison Keys entered Rod Laver Arena for the Australian Open final on Saturday night, she walked right past the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, the trophy for the women’s champion. It was placed on a pedestal near the court entrance, but Keys didn’t stop to stare.

The cup was later brought to the net for the pre-match coin toss, right next to where Keys stood, close enough for her to touch and feel. Her opponent was No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion at Melbourne Park, who wasn’t going to make things easy for Keys on this cool, breezy evening.

Overcoming Doubt and Pressure

After 2 1/2 hours and a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win over Sabalenka, Keys stood with the biggest smile on her face, holding the silver trophy with both hands, a Grand Slam champion at 29. Keys had been considered a future star before she was a teenager, and this was her second opportunity to compete for a major title.

Her first attempt ended in a heavy loss at the 2017 U.S. Open, an experience that taught her how to manage nerves.

It wasn’t until she accepted that winning a Slam might never happen and that she’d be okay with that, after years of therapy, that Keys was able to achieve her dream.

“From a pretty young age, I felt like if I never won a Grand Slam, then I wouldn’t have lived up to what people thought I should have been. That was a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around,” Keys said, recalling how she reached her first major semifinal a decade ago in Australia.

“I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without a Grand Slam. I finally got to the point where I was okay if it didn’t happen. I didn’t need it to feel like I had a good career or that I deserved to be talked about as a great tennis player,” she said.

“I feel like finally letting go of that kind of internal talk that I had just gave me the ability to actually go out and play some really good tennis to actually win a Grand Slam.”

A Hard-Fought Victory

Keys, who was born in Illinois and now lives in Florida, became the oldest woman to win her first Slam since Flavia Pennetta at the 2015 U.S. Open. This was her 46th Grand Slam appearance, the third-most before winning a women’s major title, behind Pennetta’s 49 and Marion Bartoli’s 47 at Wimbledon in 2013.

She didn’t have an easy road to the final. Before defeating Sabalenka, Keys beat No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, saving a match point along the way. She became the first player since Serena Williams in 2005 to beat both of the WTA’s top two women at Melbourne Park.

“Winning that match the other night against Iga was really kind of a big hurdle,” Keys said. “I always believed that I could do it, but to do it that way — really I thought to myself after the match that I can absolutely win on Saturday.”

To win the final, Keys needed to prevent Sabalenka from claiming her third consecutive Australian Open title — something last done by Martina Hingis from 1997-99 — and her fourth major title overall.

After the match ended, Keys covered her face with her hands, then raised her arms in victory. She hugged her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, who has been her coach since 2023, and other members of her team. Then, she sat on the sideline, laughing.

Sabalenka threw her racket, covered her head with a towel, and briefly left the court before returning for the post-match ceremony. “I just needed … that time for myself to kind of switch off and forget and … be respectful,” Sabalenka explained later.

Keys’ Powerful Performance

Keys broke Sabalenka three times in the first set, thanks in part to Sabalenka’s four double faults and 13 unforced errors. But it wasn’t just Sabalenka’s mistakes — Keys played a big part in controlling the match.

For a period, it seemed like every shot from Keys was landing exactly where she wanted, near the corner, on the line, out of Sabalenka’s reach. Keys, who had taped her left thigh for the match, also moved quickly around the court, returning balls with precision and determination.

Sabalenka, not one to hide her emotions, kicked a ball after missing a volley and dropped her racket after an overhead shot went awry. She went to the locker room before the second set. Whether that helped her reset or slowed Keys’ momentum, the match shifted.

Keys’ first-serve percentage dropped from 86% in the first set to 59% in the second. Sabalenka raised her winner count from four to 13 in the second set and began converting break points.

After Sabalenka broke Keys to take a 2-1 lead in the second set, she celebrated by shaking her left fist and gritting her teeth. The third set was tense, with no break points until the final game, when Keys hit a winning forehand to seal the match.

The match was incredibly close — Keys won just one more point than Sabalenka, 92-91, with both players finishing with 29 winners.

“I didn’t always believe that I could get back to this point,” Keys said after the match. “But to be able to do it and win, it means the world to me.”

It’s rare for a player to win their first Grand Slam title and then successfully defend it the next year. That’s what Jannik Sinner will try to do on Sunday when he faces Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open final.

The last time this happened was nearly 20 years ago, when Rafael Nadal won back-to-back French Open titles in 2005 and 2006. He turned out just fine.

For Sinner, who is ranked No. 1, the past year included an unresolved doping case. He tested positive for a small amount of an anabolic steroid twice in March, and the news wasn’t made public until he was cleared just before the U.S. Open, which he went on to win. There will be a hearing for the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal in April.

“He finds playing tennis matches to be his safe place. That’s where he can go and do his thing and feel like this is what he knows, this is what he understands, what is what he’s good at. It becomes a home for him to step on to the court and play tennis,” said Darren Cahill, one of Sinner’s two coaches, who will leave the team after this season.

“There’s been a lot of pressure around him for the last nine months, since April last year. He deals with it as well as anybody that I’ve ever seen deal with pressure,” Cahill said. “He’s an amazing young man that’s been able to put that to one side. … He has a clear conscience.”

During the two weeks in Australia, Sinner also had some health issues. He needed medical help when he felt dizzy and had an upset stomach during his fourth-round win over No. 13 Holger Rune. He also had cramps during his semifinal win over No. 21 Ben Shelton.

“There’s a lot of things going on, on and off the court. I try to isolate myself a little bit, trying to be myself on the court. Sometimes it’s a bit easier.

There are days where it’s easier, days where I struggle a little bit more,” said Sinner, the 23-year-old Italian who can become the youngest man to win consecutive Australian Open titles since Jim Courier in 1992-93.

“I’m just happy to put myself in this position again,” Sinner said, “to play for a big trophy again.”

Zverev appreciated Sinner

His opponent is No. 2 Zverev, a 27-year-old from Germany who is 0-2 in major finals. He lost both in five sets — to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 U.S. Open after leading by two sets and holding a match point, and to Carlos Alcaraz at last year’s French Open after leading two sets to one. Zverev reached the Australian Open final after Novak Djokovic retired from their semifinal match due to a leg injury after just one set.

This will be the first men’s Grand Slam final at Rod Laver Arena between the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds since Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in 2019.

“Jannik has been the best player in the world for the past 12 months,” Zverev said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

That’s hard to argue with.

Sinner had a 73-6 record in 2024, winning eight titles, the most on the ATP Tour since 2016. He is currently on a 20-match winning streak that began late last season.

Sinner is favored in the match, with odds of -275 against Zverev, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

But don’t expect Sinner to talk about himself in glowing terms.

“Back of my head, I also know that I’m 23 years old, and I am not perfect, no? I know that I have things still to improve. I have certain areas where I can get better. That’s why we work,” Sinner said.

“Every day is a big challenge. Every day you have a different opponent. You try to understand what’s happening. Sometimes you have some issues and then trying to understand that whatever works best for that day and trying to go for it.”

Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara bounced back after losing a tough first set to win the Australian Open men’s doubles title, 6-7 (16), 7-6 (5), 6-3, against the Italian team of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.

The Italians had a point taken away while serving for the first set on Saturday due to a fault. Chair umpire Thomas Sweeney called a violation on Vavassori in the 10th game because his racket crossed the net as he hit a volley that he thought would give them the set.

Patten and Heliovaara were given the point and broke back to level the set at 5-5, but they failed to convert three set points in the 12th game and seven in a 24-minute, 34-point tiebreaker.

They came back strong to win the next two sets and add the Australian Open title to their Wimbledon victory.

The first set lasted 87 minutes and was full of drama. Sweeney’s decision disrupted Vavassori and Bolelli for a bit, but the Italians saved 10 set points before eventually winning on the sixth, with Bolelli hitting a forehand winner to seal the tiebreaker.

Bolelli, who won the 2015 Australian Open doubles with Fabio Fognini, was hoping to become part of only the third Italian men’s doubles team to win a Grand Slam title.

Bolelli and Vavassori had lost last year’s Melbourne Park final to India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden, and they had also been defeated in the French Open final.

The Italian duo was aiming to make it a big weekend for Italian tennis, with top-ranked Jannik Sinner trying to defend his singles title against No. 2 Alexander Zverev on Sunday.

“Tough final — one of the best I’ve played,” Bolelli said during the ceremony, which went past 2 a.m. local time. “We tried this year, another final. We played a really good tournament. We didn’t get the trophy, but we’re going to come back next year and try again.”

Patten thanked Heliovaara, who won the 2007 Australian Open boys’ doubles title, for his part in securing another Grand Slam win, and he thanked the crowd for keeping them motivated.

“Bloody hell, what an evening! Thanks to everyone who stayed,” Patten said to the crowd at Rod Laver Arena in the early hours of Sunday. “You guys are a little bit crazy, but I love you for it.”

The first person Madison Keys contacted after winning the Australian Open and securing her first Grand Slam title on Saturday was her mother.

“Because,” Keys said with a smile, “of course you have to text Mom first.”

Another person the 29-year-old American reached out to was her therapist. Keys believes their talks over the past year and a half have helped her in many aspects of life, including understanding herself, figuring out what really matters, and dealing with challenges on the tennis court. This included learning to accept nervousness during matches and realizing that she would be okay even if she never won a major title.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Keys explained that she and her therapist “talked a lot” during this trip, especially after a close win over qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the second round.

“I called her and said that I was kind of just dealing with some things. And we were able to talk,” Keys shared. “And then we kind of just continued to text since then.”

They usually speak once a week or every other week during the season when possible.

“There’s also the reality of: Sometimes, I’m like, ‘Hey, I need to talk mid-tournament,’” Keys said. “Sometimes it’s even just being able to go back and forth (with) someone that can just kind of provide some support.”

Keys first tried speaking with a sports psychologist when she was about 18 or 19, and later worked with others, but never found someone she really connected with.

“Never really found anyone that I quite connected with and clicked with,” she said. “And then, I finally kind of pivoted and went with my current therapist.”

After her 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, Keys talked about how therapy helped her get past doubts that had held her back from performing her best in the past. One of those was worrying that if she never won a major title, she wouldn’t meet others’ expectations.

For Keys, the process was about “just being really honest and actually getting help and actually talking to someone — and not just about tennis, but about how I felt about myself. Again, very uncomfortable. I never really like to be uncomfortable. I honestly think that had I not done that, then I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

She pointed out that the WTA women’s tennis tour has therapists available at tournaments and said that this kind of support could be helpful to more people — not just professional athletes.

“The stigma around therapy, in general, not just in sports, I think, is slowly starting to go away. I think that everyone should be in therapy, no matter what. I think it helps,” Keys said. “No matter what’s going on in your life, you’re going to have moments where things are tough and you need someone to talk to. I think it’s very important.”

She added, “It’s something I will continue to do for the rest of my life. If more people do it and more people talk about it, then it just kind of becomes the norm. It’s almost as if you’re going to the doctor. No one bats an eye at that. I think it’s just kind of overwhelmingly needed for most people.”