By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Once paralysed by the pressure to win a Grand Slam title, Madison Keys is now at peace with her lot as she prepares for a blockbuster Australian Open semi-final with Iga Swiatek.
The 19th seeded American booked her third semi-final at Melbourne Park on Wednesday, overhauling Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 3-6 6-3 6-4 with her customary firepower.
Nearly 16 years after turning professional at the age of 14, Keys is still going strong at the majors even if the silverware has eluded her.
The closest she has come was a run to the 2017 U.S. Open final where she was beaten 6-3 6-0 by Sloane Stephens in an all-American clash.
Negotiating second seed Swiatek, who has crushed all five of her opponents at Melbourne Park, will be a huge task for Keys on Thursday but pressure is unlikely to be a problem for the hard-hitting American.
“I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to appreciate my career for what it has been, and it doesn’t have to have a Grand Slam in order for me to look at it and say, ‘I’ve done a really good job, and I’ve really left everything out there’,” the 29-year-old told reporters.
“Now, while that’s obviously still the goal, there have been periods of my career where it felt like if I didn’t win one, then I hadn’t done enough, and I didn’t live up to my potential in all of that.
“That kind of took a lot of the fun out of the game, and there were times where it felt paralysing out on the court because it felt as if I needed it to happen instead of giving myself the opportunity to go out and potentially do it.”
While Swiatek has been unstoppable in Melbourne and holds a 4-1 winning record over Keys, the Illinois native can go toe-to-toe with the world’s best when her power game is on song.
It took a while for it to warm up against Svitolina but soon proved overwhelming for the outgunned 28th seed.
While rarely associated with defence, patience or even much of a Plan B, Keys said she would be wary about being too aggressive against Swiatek.
“The biggest thing that makes her so difficult to beat is because since she moves so well, if you miss your spot just slightly, she has enough time to recover, and then the point goes back to neutral,” she said.
“So then there’s just such a balance of being aggressive and trying to get her to move and going for things, but not pressing too hard and not going for anything too quickly.
“So I think she just does such a good job at making people start going for a little bit too much too quickly.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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