“I feel like it’s past my bedtime,” WTA pro Danielle Collins said after winning her first-round match at the 2025 Australian Open. On Monday, she played a late-night fixture against Ukraine’s Daria Snigur. Although she emerged victorious, she made it clear that she’s not a “night owl.” But it seems her compatriot and World No.14 Madison Keys is no different! After her first-round win at the first Major down under, she had a lot to say about being handed a late-night encounter.

Keys’ fellow American teammate and World No.11 Danielle Collins cleared her first-round match against Snigur on Monday easily. She beat her 7-6(4), 6-3. But Collins couldn’t resist sharing her feelings on the timing of the match. While she wasn’t really frustrated, it was just beyond her usual sleeping time. “I’m just happy to be awake right now. I love playing these night matches and love the energy everybody brings. I’m certainly not a night owl,” she said during a post-match interview on January 13.

A day later, her compatriot has echoed a similar sentiment. In the opening round on Tuesday, Madison Keys overcame the challenge of fellow American Ann Li. Keys won the battle with a scoreline of 6-4, 7-5. During the official post-match press conference, she was pitched a tricky question regarding the timing. When asked if, going forward, she would like to have her fixtures scheduled in the morning, Keys couldn’t agree more. “If I could never play at 1:00 a.m. ever again for the rest of my life I would be so happy,” she said.

Continuing further, she added, “I feel like I have played so many late matches in my career and while they’ve been very fun and I’ve won a lot of them and the crowd’s been great, I’d love to see some 11: a.m. people for the rest of my career.”

“It’s just, it’s just a great time slot you know when you’re going to go on there’s no chaos you know, go to bed at a totally normal time. I just, yeah, I feel like I’ve lived my night owl life and I’d really love to be the first on the slot for the rest of time,” she concluded.

After entering the second round, the 2022 Australian Open semifinalist would like to continue her winning momentum. And she seems ready for the next battle. Especially considering her newfound control in stroke-making. But how?

Madison Keys reveals her new racket is helping to ‘maneuver things’ better

In the same interview, the American also revealed how she’s gained better control over her shots. A lot of credit goes to her new Yonex racket that she’s been sporting lately. It’s been a savior for her in situations when the timing has gone slightly off. “It just feels like I have the ability to kind of maneuver things a little bit easier,” she revealed.

“I felt like in the past using my equipment, it was always either really good or really bad. I had a really hard time on days where I wasn’t really feeling it. Being able to tweak things, it felt really difficult to do that. This, I feel like I have a little bit more control over the average days and being able to find a happy medium,” she added.

After conquering Ann Li, Madison Keys‘ next opponent is Romanian’s Elena Gabriela Ruse. The 27-year-old WTA pro, in her first-round encounter, beat compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu on Tuesday. She was quite dominant in the match, finishing things up with a scoreline of 6-4, 6-0.

It will be intriguing to see how No.19 seed Keys will tackle 125-ranked Ruse’s challenge on Thursday. Do you think she will have it easy against her? Let us know in the comments below.