The first major of the 2025 season came to a close over the weekend as Madison Keys and Jannik Sinner claimed the singles trophies at the Australian Open.
In her 46th Slam appearance — and last before turning 30 next month — Keys won her first major title behind a stunning run throughout the tournament. The No. 19 seed rattled off one impressive victory after another before defeating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals in dramatic fashion and then upsetting two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the final on Saturday, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. She became the first woman since Serena Williams in 2005 to beat the top two players en route to the trophy in Melbourne.
Keys credited her surprise triumph in part to letting go of the burden of having to win a Slam.
“I finally got to the point where I was OK if it didn’t happen,” Keys said after the final. “I didn’t need it to feel like I had a good career, or that I deserved to be talked about as a great tennis player. I feel like finally letting go of that kind of internal talk that I had just gave me the ability to actually go out and play some really good tennis to actually win a Grand Slam.”
On the men’s side, there was remarkably less suspense as Sinner, the world No. 1, cruised…
