“If I could never play at 1:00 a.m. ever again for the rest of my life I would be so happy,” said Madison Keys at the start of the Australian Open. Little did she know that she would have to go through a few crunch, late-night encounters in this tournament itself. One such moment came on Thursday. She had to fight it out against former World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinal. Holding her nerves well, Keys beat the Pole in an intense battle with a score line of 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8). But the marathon match did take a toll on her sleep time as she’s not a “Night Owl”. But hey, she won’t mind as she’s now into her first AO final. Just as she didn’t mind a late night ‘FaceTime’ call from a compatriot who couldn’t resist talking to Keys after her emphatic victory.

Former American ATP pro Sam Querrey, a good friend of Madison Keys, shared a funny story in an episode of the Nothing Major podcast, dated January 25. Apparently, he had reached out to Keys via a FaceTime call after she defeated Swiatek in the SF round. But what’s the catch here? The timing! Querrey didn’t realize it initially due to his over-enthusiasm after waking up to the news of the WTA pro’s entry into the final.

He revealed, “I was watching highlights, saw that Keys won, I go in my phone to text Madison. This is 7:15 AM our time, so it’s 2:15 AM in Australia.” And then he tried “to text her. I actually hit the FaceTime button. I panic, I hang up. My wife is like, ‘Who are you FaceTimeing’? ‘I accidentally just FaceTimed Keys’ She’s like, ‘you idiot..”

Querrey then hung up the call but to his surprise, Madison Keys face-timed him back. “I’m like, ‘oh my gosh, it’s 2:15 AM’. And so I answer, I’m like, ‘Hi Madison’. But the video’s not working. We didn’t have a good enough connection. I was like, ‘I’m so sorry. I meant to text you. I’m an idiot,” Querrey further added. However, Keys didn’t get annoyed with her fellow compatriot. “She’s like, ‘no problem,'” Querrey revealed.

Querrey hilariously blamed himself for ruining Keys’ sleep before the big final on Saturday. “She was trying to sleep and like, did she maybe not get a good night of sleep? If she doesn’t win the tournament now, I’m going to feel like I’m responsible for her not getting like that proper night of sleep.” However, he was pleasantly shocked to see Keys calling him back. “Who would’ve thought?” he concluded.

Speaking more of Keys, it’s a massive occasion for her. In her first-ever Australian Open final, she will be up against World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. The latter will look to win her third straight AO trophy to replicate a 26-year-old Martina Hingis record down under. Meanwhile, Keys will target her first-ever singles Slam.

Interestingly, a past defeat against Sabalenka has fueled her motivation ahead of their upcoming face-off at Rod Laver Arena.

Madison Keys reveals a heartbreaking loss to Aryna Sabalenka helped her have a winning mindset

More than a year ago, Madison Keys reached the semifinal of the 2023 US Open. She faced Aryna Sabalenka there who dominated her in the latter stages of that encounter. After losing the first set to Keys, the Belarusian didn’t give her any chance. Result? Sabalenka beat her 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5) after making a strong return in the second and third set. This match apparently changed Keys’ perspective on how she used to play before. Thanks to Sabalenka, she had a different perspective on her playing style as she looked to improvise from there.

Ahead of the final, in an official press conference, the former World No.7 said,  “After I lost to Aryna at the US Open, I felt like I tried to play safe and I wasn’t playing how I wanted to in the big moments. That felt so bad,” and that’s when she realized “if I can go out and do what I want to do and really just be uncomfortable at times and go for it and play the way I play my best tennis, and I lose, then I can walk away and say, ‘Okay, I did my best, she beat me, that’s fine’”.

Continuing further, she added, “I didn’t want to be in the same situation where I looked back and thought, ‘Man, I should have gone for it.’ I didn’t want to have any regrets for not really laying it all out there.” Madison also showered praises on her Australian Open final opponent. Per the American, Sabalenka’s “ability to always go for it, no matter what the score is, is impressive.”

Keys would like to avenge her US Open loss against Sabalenka, but the H2H tally is still in the favor of the Belarusian who’s currently leading it 4-1, which means she will step on the court on Saturday as a clear favorite to win the title. It will be intriguing to see who will lift the coveted Major trophy. What’s your prediction? Let us know in the comments below.