I really wanted a tennis dress. My parents told me that if I played, they would buy me one. I was like, 'Hey, I'll try it.'
— Madison Keys
You can almost get overwhelmed if you start focusing on Serena being on the other side of the court.
I don't really focus on other people's expectations of me. I only care what my own expectations are.
I'm not the best at hiding my emotions.
If you're not in my immediate circle, you're not someone whose opinion I value.
I would like to think I can win a trophy or two, but the main thing for me is to focus on consistency.
I always watched these tournaments and want to be seeded and get the bye and be in the second week of Slams and all that.
Everyone else wants to hear 'I wanna be Top 5,' or 'I want to be winning a Grand Slam.' Those are all goals of mine, but I'm not going to put a time limit on them.
We do get to do what we love. I think that's really special, and I think sometimes we get really caught up in the winning and the losing and rankings. And at the end of the day, we get to play a sport that we love for our jobs.
My nerves tend to dissipate once the match starts. When I know I've practiced as much as I can and I do my best and leave it all out there, I feel OK no matter what happens.
I think my biggest thing is learning when to hit which serve when, not doing the exact same thing over and over. Because O.K., great, it's 120 miles per hour, but they're standing right there, and they just block it back.
Love' is a big step. It's a big word. You have to work your way to it.
I think when you're younger and you're watching people play on TV, you always say that you want to be at the French Open - you want to be playing Grand Slams. But then actually being there doing it, it kind of blows you away thinking, Wow, I actually used to think maybe I could do that one day, and now I'm actually doing it.
Sometimes it takes work to find a great group of friends whom you feel super comfortable and confident with.
I know it's a cheesy thing to say, but I just want everyone to be able to get along.
I think it's especially hard when you start at an academy, because everything is decided for you. And then when you go with U.S.T.A., there's only so many decisions you can make.
I think it's definitely hard for the people who just out of nowhere come in and they do really well and all of the sudden the spotlight is on them.
It's one of those things where eventually in your career, it kind of switches from being the young up-and-comer to someone who has had results and the other person is trying to raise their level to play. I think it's a privilege.
It can be tough and lonely on the road, but at the end of the day we get to play professional tennis for a living, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
I was getting, at like 18, 'Why haven't you won a Grand Slam yet?'
Sometimes I have lapses of attention, and I can lose some points very quickly.
I could go through my Twitter account right now and there would be 10 horrible messages.
I think the biggest thing is knowing that those thoughts of panic are probably going to go into your brain, and just accepting it... So that's been the biggest thing. Not fighting it and trying to think I'm going to have the perfect mentality the entire time. That's not going to happen.
Both of my grandmothers have always been really good bakers, and I was always in the kitchen helping them. Obviously I can't eat a lot of the things that I make, but just baking it and giving it to someone makes me feel really good.
I think I'll always consider the Quad Cities home.
I definitely have been working a lot on the mental side of my game.
Wimbledon just is the epitome of tennis.
When I have a nice rhythm going, and I have my toss in the right spot, when everything is kind of working how it's supposed to be, I think it's just really easy, you know, and I don't have to overthink on it.
Being able to rely on the matches I've won - at first they surprised me - but I've slowly been able to build confidence.
Being an American, we're very lucky that all of the attention is very rarely just on one person. Unless you're Serena - then it's on you all the time.
No one who has gotten second place at a Grand Slam is ever like, 'Yeah, now I feel fine about it.' Everyone wants the other trophy. But it inspires you to work harder and get yourself in that position again so that you can use what you've learned.
Accept others for their differences, what makes them different. That's what makes the world the world.
Being away from the game and just remembering why I love competing and all of that, I think it helped me tremendously.
I don't really identify myself as white or African-American. I'm just me. I'm Madison.
For me it's just never being satisfied with what I've done and always just wanting more and more.
I've been on my own and traveling for years now.
The expectation from other people kind of gets on me.
The second I was on the tennis court, I had the structure I wanted. I was in complete control of what I was doing.
When you're 13 or 14, sometimes you wake up in a bad place. You feel like everything's out of your control. You don't know what to do.
I can play the No. 1 player in the world in a pretty close match.
My youngest sister does not like tennis at all, and she'll be the first one to tell you that, which I find pretty funny.
Since I came on the tour so young and I won my first match, I've had a lot of comments like 'You'll be a top player one day.' I got to the point where, as nice as it was to hear that, I almost stopped listening to it. I was almost putting added pressure on myself.
It's not the end of the world if I lose. I try to keep it all in perspective.
There is nothing like Wimbledon. When I think about tennis, I think about this tournament.
My first U.S. Open main draw, it was a big stadium and I wasn't really used to it.
I think when I start thinking about results, I stop playing the right way because I start getting too nervous.
Sometimes I have lapses of attention, and I can lose some points very quickly - that's been a big thing for him.
There's just so much girl-on-girl hate. It happens to start in high school, and then it builds and gets bigger and bigger, and it seems like for some reason there's this mentality that if another girl does well, she's taking my spot.
I will never be able to say 'Yeah, O.K., I'm good,' you know? I will always want more, and more, and more.
Serena's always been one of the best, and she will forever be one of the best tennis players in women's tennis.
