By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday July 7, 2023
It’s like clockwork. At almost each Grand Slam she performs, Madison Keys places her greatest foot ahead and places herself able to make a deep run.
The American has reached the second week in 18 of her first 40 majors – a formidable 45 % strike charge that the majority gamers on tour would kill to have – and she or he’s in that place once more at Wimbledon after her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland.
Keys, who improved to 95-40 lifetime on the Slams, will face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk within the third spherical on Saturday.
Wins like Friday’s are so routine for the previous World No.7 that she didn’t even understand that she had simply gained her 350th WTA match.
“Haven’t been keeping tally,” she instructed reporters, when requested about it.
Understandable: i’s been an extended experience for Keys, now 28 years of age. She’s been on tour for half of her life.
“I have been playing tennis since I was four, so quite literally been playing it for almost my whole life,” she mentioned. “I have been on the tour since I was 14. I mean, I feel like I have played through a few different eras now, the tail end of some people, middle of other people, and then the start of others.”
Fresh off her third profession title on grass at Eastbourne two weeks in the past, Keys stretched her successful streak to seven on the grass. The No.25 seed might not be in most pundits’ brief record of gamers who may considerably outperform her seed and make a run to the semis and even deeper, however she most likely ought to be.
Keys improved to 42-13 on grass and 20-8 at Wimbledon along with her win.
The 2015 quarterfinalist is hoping to achieve the semifinals at Wimbledon for the primary time on a floor that clearly fits her booming, first-strike energy sport. She’s additionally making up for misplaced time, as she was pressured to tug out of the Championships in 2022, as a result of damage.
Wimbledon week 1 💚💜 Missed being right here final yr and it’s sooo good to be again
📸 @Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/33VUnOLjPc
— Madison Keys (@Madison_Keys) July 7, 2023
“From the start, it just felt really natural,” she says of her preliminary forays on grass. “I feel like on clay it kind of took a little while of figuring out what small adjustments to make in my game to make my game better on the surface versus on grass.
“It just has always felt really easy and natural and it just immediately clicked.”
Keys is in a pleasant part of the draw, and can face both Anastasia Potapova or Mirra Andreeva if she will be able to get previous Kostyuk. After that Aryna Sabalenka, the No.2 seed, looms as a possible quarterfinal opponent.
But it’s too far forward for Keys to be wanting. This is just not her first rodeo, she is aware of the drill.
“I’m just really not even trying to think that far ahead,” she mentioned. “I have a match most likely tomorrow, and that’s all I’m going to worry about for right now.”
Content Source: www.tennisnow.com