Keys and Sloane in all-American final
Playing for your first Grand Slam title can be a nerve-wracking experience, but as Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens prepare for the biggest match of their lives here on Saturday in the final of the US Open there are good reasons to believe that both might cope well with the pressure.
“What better place to be in your first Slam final than at home with a great crowd who are going to be behind both of us?” Keys said. “On top of that, getting to play my friend, it’s just an amazing oppor- tunity. I’m going to go out there and do my absolute best.”
Stephens, 24, and Keys, 22, are long-time friends. “I’ve known Sloane since we were juniors,” Keys said. “We played junior tournaments together. We have been on Fed Cup teams together.
“Whenever we are around, we try to go to dinner with each other and hang out. More than that, she’s always someone who I know is always there watching. She’ll text me no matter what. We are always keeping tabs on each other and rooting for each other.
“I’ve known her for a long time and she’s a close friend of mine. To be able to play each other in our first Grand Slam final is a really special moment.”
Stephens described Keys as “one of my closest friends on tour”. She explained: “I love her to death. It’s obviously going to be tough [in the final]. It’s not easy playing a friend.“
Keys lost their only previous meeting as seniors in straight sets in Miami two years go. “I’m pretty sure she killed me,” Keys said with a smile. “But I think it gets easier and easier as time goes on to play each other.
“You figure out how to separate your friendship from being on the court. Obviously both of us want to win, but I think that when we come off the court we’re able to leave what happens there and still have a great friendship off of the court.”
Stephens described Keys as “a power player”. She added: “Maddie plays a lot of first-ball tennis, first-strike tennis. She plays aggressive. I don’t do that. I use my wheels more and make sure I get a lot of balls back and make the other person play.”
Keys, however, thinks there are similarities between their two games. “I think Sloane is really good at defending, obviously, but I think we’re similar in the fact that we both like to try to attack and be on offense,” she said. IANS