Suite à sa première victoire en Grand Chelem, Madison Keys s'est enfin soulagée d'un "fardeau" qu'elle gardait depuis tant d'années. Après avoir disputé son premier match en professionnel à l'âge de 14 ans, en 2009, et avoir perdu une finale de Grand Chelem en 2017 à l'US Open, l'Américaine a enfin réalisé son rêve. Agée de 29 ans, Keys, vainqueure en finale d'Aryna Sabalenka, la double tenante du titre, s'offre son plus beau trophée à l'Open d'Australie. Après la rencontre, elle est notamment revenue sur toute la pression qu'il y a sur elle depuis son adolescence.
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Photo : @AustralianOpen
« Le tennis, partout & toujours ici », sur
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SportTranscription
00:00I'm mostly just really proud of myself to be to get back to this position and
00:13be able to play the way that I played and finish on such a strong note. I'm
00:19just really proud of myself and I didn't always believe that I could get back to
00:24this point but to be able to do it and win it's just it means the world to me.
00:30Alright we'll start with Matt and then Eleanor. Well done Madison. I mean I know you have nothing to
00:37compare it to but where you where you sit now and given like this journey that
00:43you've been on in order to get here I mean can you reflect at all about like
00:49how it feels having gone through all that and to get to this and to sort of
00:54get to the top of the mountain this way rather than maybe if it had happened
00:59eight years ago or something like that I know it didn't happen but I'm just sort
01:03of curious that you know it's sort of the classic idea of does it make it all
01:06worthwhile. I think everything kind of happens for a reason and I think for me
01:12specifically I kind of had to go through some tough things and I think it just
01:18kind of forced me to look at myself in the mirror a little bit and try to work
01:26on the kind of just internal pressure that I was putting on myself. I felt like
01:31from a pretty young age I kind of felt like if I never won a Grand Slam then I
01:37wouldn't have lived up to what people thought I should have been and that was
01:42kind of it was pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around so I finally got to
01:48the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career with or without a
01:55Grand Slam and I finally got to the point where I was okay if it didn't
01:59happen I didn't need it to feel like I had a good career or that I deserved to
02:08be you know talked about as a great tennis player and I feel like finally
02:13letting go of that kind of internal talk that I had just gave me the ability to
02:20actually go out and play some really good tennis to actually win a Grand Slam.
02:26We were in here the other night talking about how you wanted to be inspired by sort of the
02:31way arena played and you didn't want to be passive at the big moments and you
02:35wanted to be able to go for your shot so how proud are you of the way that you
02:39finished that match? Definitely one of the things that I'm most proud of being
02:44able to at the end just kind of I almost felt like I was trying to beat her to it
02:51because if I if I wasn't gonna go for it I knew she was going to so it really
02:56kind of just pushed me to kind of thread the needle a little bit more but I just
03:01kept telling myself in my head you like be brave go for it just kind of lay it
03:06all out lay it all out on the line and kind of at that point no matter what
03:12happens if I do that then I can be proud of myself and just you know I just made
03:17it a little bit easier.
03:20Just to go back to what you said in your first answer, people have talked about you being a likely Grand Slam champion for a long time since you were probably like I don't know 11 or 12 or when's the first time you
03:31remember someone saying that about you and then how did that turn from being
03:34like an exciting possibility to feeling like a burden and then yeah and then
03:39sort of the journey with that whole label over the course of a couple decades of your life almost.
03:44I mean it definitely started pretty young probably 11 12 something like that
03:50and it obviously was meant to be you know confidence building and all of that
03:58and I think as I got older and I had gotten close and it didn't happen and it
04:03kind of and then you know it's you're getting older and you're obviously in
04:08the later stages of your career it kind of feels like will this ever actually
04:12happen and if it doesn't happen like I didn't live up to what everyone told me
04:17that I should have done so I think it kind of it almost felt like it went from
04:26being something positive to something that was almost like a little bit of a
04:29panic of why hasn't it happened yet why haven't I been able to do it and then it
04:34started to really kind of weigh on me more where it was what if I never do it
04:39like if I don't do it and am I considered a failure so that there was a
04:44lot of stuff that I had to like work through personally just with all of that
04:50just because of all of the pressure that I was putting on myself with that
04:55over the last year or so well obviously you've been around on the circuit for a
05:02while I just wonder whether there was a moment or a person you spoke to that
05:07where it really the penny dropped and you felt like you feel now that it that
05:12it wasn't all about whether you won a Grand Slam in terms of how you viewed
05:15your career was there a specific moment lots of therapy I really kind of bought
05:24into it and I think in the past I had always kind of tried to go the kind of
05:31the sports therapy route where it was more about routine and controlling the
05:36things you can control and all of that and I felt like I was always good enough
05:42at that but to really start kind of digging in on how I felt about myself
05:49and really being honest with myself about it it was really hard because I
05:57kind of I didn't really want to be the person that felt like I was really
06:02struggling but I was starting to really struggle with it so just being really
06:08honest and actually getting help and actually talking to someone and not just
06:15about tennis but about how I felt about myself again very uncomfortable and I
06:21really like to be uncomfortable so I honestly think that had I not done that
06:27then I wouldn't be sitting here you mentioned a couple times I think on
06:38court and then now again here about not always believing and you thanked your
06:46team for always believing and helping you with that but when did you regain
06:51and how that belief that this day might come at some point I honestly think
06:58through kind of through the last year even with the injuries and some tough
07:04losses I just kind of felt like I was kind of starting to find myself a little
07:09bit more and I was starting to be a little bit more kind of clear-headed and
07:14present on court and I felt like I was starting to get better at problem
07:18solving on court in the moment a lot better and I in the past I kind of felt
07:24like sometimes during matches it was especially when things started to go
07:28awry that I was almost like not in my own body and I was kind of looking down
07:32at myself and I felt like I couldn't connect my brain to my body and I felt
07:38like last year I started being able to kind of just be more in the moment and
07:43take each point by point instead of kind of panicking and getting a little bit
07:50too broad and I felt like I started playing some some good tennis and I
07:55started figuring things out when I wasn't playing great and and then
07:59through offseason I just you know put in a lot of hard work and I kind of started
08:04to see that things were kind of going more the way that I wanted and then I
08:10just you know I just feel like it's one of those things that just slowly keeps
08:14building and all of a sudden you know you're winning a bunch of matches in
08:19Adelaide and then you're coming in here and then I think you know winning that
08:23match the other night against Iga was really a kind of a big hurdle where I
08:29felt like I kind I'd always believed that I could do it but to do it that way
08:35I think really I was I thought to myself after the match that I can
08:40absolutely win on Saturday.
08:43Okay this gentleman here and then Kath and Charlie.
08:47Same question, has there been a moment of realization during the tournament where you thought well I'm
08:52doing pretty fine here because your run was remarkable especially in the last five wins?
08:57I don't I don't know if I ever really had like the moment but
09:03I I really felt like going into each match that if I could just try to go out
09:12play how I wanted to play then I was really just going to give myself the
09:18opportunity to try to win the match and I felt like not stressing about things
09:23that I couldn't control I just I just felt like I was able to play a little
09:28bit more free and I think there was a there was a confidence in maybe not
09:34playing matches amazingly from start to finish and having some dips here and
09:39there but being able to kind of end on a really high note each time and figure
09:43out how to get back in matches or how to close out a match really well I just
09:49slowly started continuing to build the confidence and I think part of it was
09:58that I never really got ahead of myself in each round I never once thought about
10:02the next round until I was actually there so I think yes I believe that I
10:10could do it but I also think I did a good job it you know just focusing on
10:13the task at hand.
10:16Congratulations, just hearing you talk about therapy there and the benefits that you've had from it
10:24obviously it's a very personal thing but I just wondered whether you kind of
10:28look around you in the locker room and on the tour and think that it should be
10:34kind of more widespread or more accepted or something that should be offered to
10:37younger players or at least talked about as an option for younger players?
10:42I mean I think the more that we talk about actually using it as a tool I
10:50think people feel more comfortable with it I do think that the WTA does a great
10:55job at having someone at tournaments now that you can go and you can talk to I
10:59think it's not only helpful for myself but I think it's helpful for a lot of us
11:04and I think the stigma around therapy in general not just in sports I think is
11:10slowly starting to go away and I think that everyone should be in therapy no matter what.
11:16I think it helps and I think no matter what no matter what's going on in
11:23your life you're gonna have moments where things are tough and you need
11:26someone to talk to and I think it's really important it's something that I
11:30will continue to do for the rest of my life and I think if more people do it
11:39and more people talk about it then it just kind of becomes the norm it's
11:43almost as if you're going to the doctor no one bats an eye at that so I think
11:48it's just as an overwhelming it's just kind of overwhelmingly needed for I
11:56think most people.
11:59I just wondered on that point you mentioned that that you weren't
12:05typically somebody necessarily wanted to be out their comfort zone and so with
12:09with going to therapy I just wondered was there a particular prompt or a
12:13moment that made you think you know either why not just give a chance or
12:17that things have become so difficult that you thought I kind of need this?
12:22I think in the past I had I had done it before but it had always been I think
12:28too sports specific so it was always kind of I kind of always went in with
12:34the thought of will this help me perform better and I finally got to the point
12:40where I was personally low enough that I was like I don't really care if this
12:47helps me perform I just want to feel better and I think doing that it was
12:55just kind of that moment where it was like I don't really care what I have to
12:58do I just want to feel better so I think it it was kind of the thing that it
13:06pushes you to say okay well obviously whatever I'm doing is not working but I
13:12think for a long time in my head I had this idea that people were able to kind
13:18of just ignore their nerves or doubts or anything like that and just kind of
13:24tunnel vision play tennis and in the past if I ever had you know nerves come
13:28up or something I typically would not play as well and so it started getting
13:35to the point where when nerves came up I was thinking oh no like now I'm gonna
13:38play badly and it would almost kind of start this internal panic and for
13:43whatever reason for whatever reason I thought it was kind of just this
13:51lightbulb moment where I started really buying into I can be nervous and I can
13:58still play to good tennis like those things can live together so I stopped
14:02fighting trying to push away the feelings and pretending that they're not
14:07there and just accepting them and really telling myself that they're fine
14:12and they're totally normal to be there and I can still play tennis and I think
14:18doing that day in and day out and just kind of accepting that it's gonna be
14:25uncomfortable you're gonna be nervous there's gonna be thousands of people
14:28watching you but you can still do it and then starting to actually be able to do
14:34that just kind of started to give me a little bit more confidence
14:42just wondering there's been some really positive react receptions a couple of
14:47others have expressed their delight at your success tonight I'm wondering what
14:52what it means to you when you see peers taking genuine joy in in your success
14:56here and also has the phone been running hot
15:01I have I've really grown up on the tour and I've grown up with some other
15:09amazing people on this tour and some of my closest friends also play so I think
15:19we all are very good at cheering each other on and their wins feel like our
15:24wins so you know to be in to be in the position of actually winning and them
15:31getting to be the cheerleaders it feels really nice just because after all these
15:37years watching all of my friends do so well it has always felt like a win for
15:43me so I'm happy that I can repay the favor
15:49just a question about tomorrow's final obviously Alexander Zverev is a bit in
15:54the same position he's been chasing his first Grand Slam victory for for a while
15:58is if you had if you could just give him one piece of advice what would it be
16:04against Yannick I feel like he has better advice to be Yannick than I do
16:09but I mean I think at some point it's really just kind of letting go of the
16:20the stress of will I ever win one and not really worrying about it and just
16:28playing tennis and at the end of the day that's all you can control and you can
16:32only control your side of the court so that's all you can focus on and if you
16:40put yourself in that position enough times then usually good things happen