Madison Keys gets candid on how therapy helped her improve mental state and life

08/27/2024 10:55 PM

Madison Keys has opened up on her mental health journey at the US Open as the American tennis star acknowledges the life on the Tour hasn't gotten any easier but it's therapy that has helped her cope with everything better and deal with certain things in a much healthier way. 

Keys, who is 29 years old, was one of the first players from her generation to speak about mental health in tennis as several years ago she revealed that she battled an eating disorder for almost two years when she was 15. At the time, Keys also struggled with depression and paranoia, which led to her becoming secretive and distancing herself from her family and friends. 

While those issues were solved, then came the struggles of dealing with pressure, expectations and tough losses. 

Recently, world No. 14 Keys was inches away from making the Wimbledon quarterfinal as she was up by two breaks and had a 5-2 lead in the third set against Jasmine Paolini when she suffered a very unfortunate leg injury. The American attempted to continue the match - but after evidently struggling mightily and failing to serve out for the match twice - she retired at 5-5 in the decider. 

The 2017 US Open finalist then spent the next month sidelined before returning to action in Toronto - where she wasn't able to finish her first-round match before of a hip injury. 

After a very rough last month and a half, Keys kicked off her US Open campaign on Monday with a 6-4 6-1 win over Katerina Siniakova. Later in her presser, a reporter wanted to know how she felt after that devastating loss to Paolini. Answering the question, the American actually responded by describing it as "one of the greatest matches that I have ever played."

One of the reporters loved Keys' answer to the Paolini question - and considering her history and that she would have probably absolutely shattered if that happened several years ago - the American was asked what was her secret. She simply responded: "That's therapy."

She then provided a lengthy explanation on what she changed.

"I think that that's just trying to just not live and die by every result. I know that's really hard. I think it's really hard, especially for tennis players, because every result matters. I mean, we're lying if we say that we don't care. But I think it's really hard when you grow up and the number next to your name means so much," Keys explained.

"It becomes really hard to kind of separate yourself from that number and the winning and the losing. I think it's even just when you win, your phone is blowing up. People want to talk to you after the matches and everything. You have to go into press, and then you lose, and it's not the same.

"I think it's hard when you grow up that way to not take every loss as this is the end of the world. So it's been a lot of personal growth on my part, but I've been really working on just trying to take the experiences for what they are and not the, you know, earth-shattering disappointment that sometimes I think we kind of all can live in a little bit."

When Keys decided it was time to seek professional help, she opted for a sports psychologist but didn't have an easy job of finding one. After seeing that therapy was helping, at one point the 29-year-old American realized that there were ways to take it to another level and further improve her mental state. 

"I've tried it on and off for a few years, and I think that's the hard part about therapy is finding someone that fits for you. I think for me personally I've always tried specifically sports psychology. I think at the time I was always smart enough to pick up on what to say and say the right things and do the right things, but never really fully believed them 100% and never really fully buy into it," Keys said.

"It just got to a point where I wanted to be just an overall happier person. So I started trying to look at it from that point of view, and if I could do that and really buy into it and be really honest and vulnerable, which is not my favorite thing to do with people, that a lot of good could come from it."

Meanwhile, Keys will be battling against qualifier world No. 135 Maya Joint for a place in the US Open third round.