How Madison Keys Is Getting Her Head Back in the Game After That Wimbledon-Ending Injury

She says meeting with her therapist has “made my time on court just way more enjoyable.”

August 23, 2024

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After 15 years of pro tennis, world number 14 Madison Keys knows a thing or two about rolling with the punches. Less than two months after a leg injury ended her 2024 Wimbledon run, Keys, 29, is already back to fight for her next title: She’s taking on the US Open—the final major of the 2024 season and her “absolute favorite” of them all, as she tells SELF.

On July 7, Keys was only a few points away from beating Italy’s Jasmine Paolini to secure a spot in the Wimbledon quarterfinals when her left leg buckled as she attempted to return a shot, according to The New York Times. When Keys returned from a medical timeout with her thigh heavily taped, the Times reported, the severity of the injury became clear. Ultimately, she decided to bow out, holding back tears as she walked off the grass to applause.

“Well… The ending of yesterday’s match was probably one of my toughest moments ever on court,” Keys wrote in a Facebook post the next day. Turns out she’d hurt her hamstring. While the damage was limited to a “minor muscle tear,” according to Keys, it still required time to heal.

“Being able to have that chunk of time [off] has been really beneficial, and I’m feeling super confident in my body and my ability to go out and compete again,” Keys says.

But the experience inevitably dealt a psychological blow too. “You kind of have to rebuild confidence back with your body after an injury,” Keys says—not only taking a bit to recover, but also starting off slow when it comes time to work on regaining strength, speed, flexibility, and endurance. The last point has been a huge focus: In the lead-up to the US Open, Keys says she’s been “going two to two and a half hours a day on the court” to get her body acclimated to the real-world demands of a match. And in the last seven weeks or so, she says she’s “basically done every single hamstring and adductor exercise that’s ever been created."

Keys has tried to prioritize her mental health, too, by eating well, sleeping enough, and doing activities she enjoys. Just setting aside 5 to 10 minutes every night to do her skin care regimen is “very cathartic and relaxing” for the beauty enthusiast, who recently partnered with supplement company Thorne. Her current fave products overall—for morning or nighttime—include retinol (“I am starting to dabble…as I’m inching toward 30”), Trader Joe’s marula oil (“It's absolutely worth the [money] that I spent on it”), and, of course, sunscreen, especially options from La Roche-Posay (“I basically slather myself from head to toe,” she jokes). Then, of course, there’s home renovations and wedding planning—she moved house and got engaged to her longtime boyfriend within the last two years—all on top of US Open prep.

In the last year or so, Keys has also made a point of meeting with her therapist more. Unsurprisingly, playing in front of the whole world comes with a ton of pressure that can hurt your concentration if you’re not careful. Think whiffing a ball in a high school tennis match is embarrassing? Try doing it knowing that the mistake will be broadcast around the world, seen by millions, and analyzed by sports commentators in multiple languages.

Talking to a pro has helped her narrow her focus to what’s happening on the court, even when that background noise threatens to drown out everything else, Keys says. And while her inner perfectionist can be hard to please, Keys tries to meditate as much as possible too—a skill that helps her recenter if she does get distracted. What’s more, she says, therapy has “really made my time on court just way more enjoyable.”

That’s huge going into the US Open, since the tournament already holds particular significance for Keys. (And not just because she took second place in 2017.) “Being an American, playing your home Slam is truly one of the most exciting, thrilling feelings that you could ever have,” she says. “I love the energy of the city.”

Whatever may happen in Queens, Keys has shown she can handle it. As her Wimbledon loss demonstrated, dealing with “random weird stuff” is “just the reality of being a professional tennis player,” she says. By this point in her career, she’s more than proven that she can take it all in stride.