April 8, 2015
A Post-Match Interview With:
MADISON KEYS
Madison Keys defeats Kateryna Bondarenko
6-2, 6-1
Q. When there have been some upsets
earlier in the day, do you even notice that? Do
you take notice? Does that make you go -MADISON KEYS: I'm for sure going to
lose today. Yeah.
Q. No, no. That was not the question.
But does that give you things are going
strangely today and I better pick up my game
or do you not even care about stuff like that?
MADISON KEYS: No, I don't really focus
on it. Really just staying focused on myself and
obviously some seeds have lost and things like
that, but I think that happens every tournament.
Q. So it was pretty good tonight, huh?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah, it wasn't bad,
huh.
Q. Yeah. But more than twice as many
winners as errors, so that has to make you
happy.
MADISON KEYS: Yes.
Q. How do you did you feel out there,
first match on clay?
MADISON KEYS: I felt surprisingly good.
I just hope I can take it on into tomorrow and then
continue that.
But you know, it's a great start. Played
pretty well, played pretty smart, which I don't
always do. But yeah, I mean it was a good match.
There weren't very many points where I thought,
okay, that was really dumb, you know. For the
most part I thought, okay, that was good playing,
great job and keep it up.
Transcripts Provided By:
Kelly McKee Dorsey, CCR, RPR, CRR
kadmcr@yahoo.com
Twitter handle: @reporterkel
Q. So is Lindsay's job in jeopardy now
because you're playing so well under Lisa? We
need to break some news here.
MADISON KEYS: Lindsay has texted me
and John texted me like a whole paragraph.
Lindsay called me before the match. It's very
much a team effort. Jagger, their son, is like
traumatized that he was not here.
He was
watching on the iPad today. I got a picture of him
watching my match. So no, Lindsay is very secure
in her job right now.
Q. But how did that come about, the
whole just working with Lisa? I guess she
signed in here as your coach. So why and how
did it come about?
MADISON KEYS: Yeah. Well, I mean
John and Lindsay -- John has a full-time job and
Lindsay has four children, so it's hard for them to
be able to come to every tournament. They're not
going to be able to.
So Lisa is amazing, and Lisa and Lindsay
have known each other for a very long time, and it
just kind of worked that Lisa was coming here, and
you know, she's kind of helping be the assistant
coach for the week.
Q. How is it having an active player as
a coach?
MADISON KEYS: I mean it was really fun
playing doubles with her yesterday. You know,
she's super knowledgeable, and she knows a lot of
the girls still on tour. So you can always learn so
much from someone who's been on the tour for a
while and who still plays; and you know, it's been
great. She's been super supportive. It also helps
that I've known her for a while. So it's been good.
Q. I was just saying, moving forward
with the Top 2 seeds out, does that give you
any more confidence? Obviously you're a
contender every time you're in a tournament,
but does that give you more confidence
moving forward that these guys are out of the
tournament?
MADISON KEYS:
I think it's just
something you have to take one match at a time
and not really worry about who else is in the draw
or anything like that. You just really have to worry
about who you're playing the next day and not
looking too far ahead of yourself.
Q. Any thoughts on Mitu?
MADISON KEYS: I don't really know her.
Obviously she's playing well. She's won a couple
of matches, and she beat Ajla. I mean that's a
good one, so I'm sure it'll be a tough match, and
you know, just excited to go hopefully have
another really good match tomorrow.
Q.
Hello, hey, Madison, how are you
doing?
MADISON KEYS: Hello.
Q. I personally thank you very much for
the interview yesterday. It was well received. I
wrote about it in the black press. One thing I
noticed about you, you seem to be having so
much fun, and even when you seem to be
exerting yourself, it's like fun. What is that
about?
Talk to me about that just briefly, I mean
because I love it. You seem to bring a kind of
youthful, enthusiastic -- and I say this very
respectfully -- poised game to it that's thrilling. To
me it's good for tennis. I mean I like to see it.
I mean I'm not going to eat your flesh, but
keep doing what you're doing. You know, I'm
serious. Keep doing what you're doing. I love it.
I'm saying like, wow, I'm an old man. I need to go
to bed now, but I'm sitting here watching this young
girl hitting this tennis ball. She's smiling. I mean
come on, but I mean I love it.
I say that
respectfully, and I hope everybody else in the
background feels the same way. But I mean -- I'm
sorry. Forgive me.
MADISON KEYS: Why do I have fun on
the tennis court?
Q. Yeah.
MADISON KEYS: I mean it's just -- I
mean it's a sport. It's what I get to do for a career,
and I'm very blessed that I'm able to do that. I
mean if I'm not having fun, then why am I doing it?
You know, and for me it's really important to kind of
put it in perspective of as much as this is my job,
it's also such an amazing gift, and I should enjoy
Transcripts Provided By:
Kelly McKee Dorsey, CCR, RPR, CRR
kadmcr@yahoo.com
Twitter handle: @reporterkel
every moment of it, so I try to. Doesn't always
happen. But for the most part I think it works.
Q. Yeah. Make sure you get a copy of
"The Chronicle," the paper that I write for,
because you're featured in it. I want you to
read it, too. But don't smile, though. Okay.
Thank you very much.
You were talking before the tournament
about playing on clay that it's not like a radical
change to your game, you shouldn't go into it
thinking about that. So going into tonight's match,
were there adjustments that were on your mind or
did you just say step out there and play like it's any
other surface, any other match?
MADISON KEYS: I mean it does slow the
ball down, so you know, my serve is not as
effective, and you know, power isn't always as
effective. So definitely having to put some more
height on the ball, and you know, kind of rally a
little bit more before I can pull the trigger. But at
the same time it's still the basic, set up the point,
when you have it, go for it. So I mean it's an
added two, three balls. But pretty much the same
game plan. It's been fun, guys.
End of Interview