American tennis star, Madison Keys is living her dream. After years of hard work and numerous unsuccessful attempts, the 29-year-old has finally achieved success on the sport’s biggest stage as she defeated Aryna Sabalenka in a three-setter thriller to win the 2025 Australian Open title. However, the massive win wasn’t the only thing for Keys to cheer today as she showed why she is a favorite among her peers as well.

Keys has been playing on the WTA Tour for a long time now, having made her professional debut back in 2009. As a result, she has forged some strong bonds among her fellow players like Sloane Stephens and Jessica Pegula. During the post-match press conference, Keys highlighted how she is the favorite in the dressing room.

The American star revealed, “I’ve really grown up on the tour and I’ve grown up with um some other amazing people on this tour and some of my closest friends also play so um I think we all are very good at cheering each other on and their wins feel like our wins so um you know to be in the position of actually winning and them getting to be the cheerleaders um it feels really nice just because after all of these years watching all of my friends do so well if has always felt like a win.”

Meanwhile, congratulatory messages poured in for Keys after her win. Even some of her best friends, like Stephens, took to social media to celebrate Keys’ win. Stephens wrote, “It was never if, just when. You deserve this and beyond.” Additionally, she added a trophy and a heart emoji to her heartfelt message.

Keys’ thrilling win over Sabalenka was one among the many upset wins that she notched up at the Australian Open. During an interview, she explained what led her to success.

Madison Keys credits therapy for her Australian Open win

Entering the tournament as the 19th seed, very few might have given Keys the chance to win the Australian Open title before the tournament. However, she proved one and all wrong with her tremendous grit and determination to win the title. En route to her victory, Keys defeated the likes of Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, apart from Aryna Sabalenka to win the title.

In the post-match interview, Keys revealed the reason behind her success, saying, “Lots of therapy (smiling). I really kind of bought into it. I think in the past I had always kind of tried to go the sports therapy route where it was more about routine and controlling things you can control and all of that.”

While Keys is on Cloud 9, it was a disappointing end to Sabalenka’s campaign, having come so close to winning a hattrick of Australian Open titles. Nonetheless, she’ll aim to come back stronger in the upcoming tournaments.