Madison Keys: how racquet change led to first Grand Slam title

Long a contender to win major title, Madison Keys talked through the changes she made to finally lift a Grand Slam trophy in a video interview with Yonex.

Keys began hitting with a Yonex racquet weeks before the 2025 Australian Open, which she went on to win with back-to-back victories over world No. 2 Iga Swiatek and No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

“I think I had two different Yonex racquets,” Keys recalled. “I picked one up and within five minutes I was like, ‘This is it. I’m happy. I don’t need to try anything else.’”

“She liked it right away,” echoed Bjorn Fratangelo, Keys’s husband and coach. “It’s been a match made in heaven.”

In addition to her change to the Yonex EZone 98, the 30-year-old American opened up about the process of bringing Fratangelo on as her full-time coach and her work with a therapist.

“Learning how to balance me as a person and me as a tennis player was something I think I needed a lot of work on,” said Keys, who is now up to a career-high ranking of No. 5. “Committing to being honest and working on myself, and not worrying if that was going to have a positive impact on tennis was really important.

“It was kind of scary because there were times when my therapist was very honest and said, ‘Your tennis might get worse, because sometimes you do have to feel worse before things start to get better.’”

Out from under the weight of pressure first foisted onto her as a pre-teen, Keys has enjoyed a career-best start to her season, backing up her Australian Open victory with a run to the BNP Paribas Open semifinals.

“Having to rebuild and let go of all the expectation and pressure I put on myself finally just gave me the opportunity to actually get what I always wanted.”

Click here to learn more about Keys’ racquet and check out the full video here.