The former world number seven won only 11 matches last year
during a season when her ranking slipped out of the top-50 and
the 26-year-old said her performance made her sink into a "dark
pit of despair".
Keys, who previously made the semi-finals at Melbourne Park as a
19-year-old in 2015, has bounced back incredibly in 2022 and has
already won 11 matches, including an Australian Open tune-up
event in Adelaide.
Keys said she has learnt from her Australian trip this year that
enjoying herself on a tennis court was vitally important.
"I have to figure out how to not put all of that pressure on
myself so that I can enjoy tennis, because when I can enjoy
tennis I'm capable of playing at a much higher level than what
was happening last year," she told reporters following her 6-1
6-3 defeat by Barty.
"The biggest thing for the next part of the year is ... I'm
going to knock on some wood ... physically I feel really good
after playing a lot of matches.
"Mentally I still am fighting to get back to the level that I
was obviously on the tennis court ranking-wise, but mentally I
feel like I'm in a really good position and feeling fresh. The
good news of having a really shitty year before is you don't
have many points to defend."
Getting to play so many matches at the start of the season will
be "really beneficial", feels the American.
Keys said she had a game plan to counter Barty's near-perfect
game but she was not able to execute it against the two-time
major winner at the floodlit Rod Laver Arena.
"It's tough. It sucks," she said with a smile. "I mean, she's
just playing incredibly well. You have a game plan in your head,
but she's just executing everything so well.
"She's playing some really, really good tennis but she's also so
locked in and focused. I have played her a handful of times, and
this is easily the best she's ever been playing."
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.![](column_spacer.png) |
|