“Lots of therapy,” said a delirious, exhausted Madison Keys as she finally appeared at her post-match press conference in the early hours of Sunday morning. Flanked by an enormous trophy on one side and a glass of champagne on the other, the American was still in the early stages of digesting her emotions after finally achieving the dream she had been chasing since she was a child.

After becoming the oldest first-time women’s singles Australian Open champion in history at 29 by defeating the No 1 seed, Aryna Sabalenka, in an incredible three-set battle on Saturday, the question posed to Keys was when and how she had come to the realisation that things needed to change.

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Throughout her time in Melbourne, the No 19 seed cited a mental breakthrough late in her career as a key factor in her success. Alongside her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, who is also her coach, Keys finally opened herself up to change over the past year. After playing with a Wilson tennis racket throughout her career, she spent the off-season adjusting to a completely different Yonex frame. In recent months, she has also removed natural gut strings from her racket and adjusted her service motion.

It took years of personal work for Keys to be willing to change her physical and mental approach. After seeing a sports psychologist for a long time, Keys says that addressing her mental health and approach in general therapy, and putting herself in uncomfortable positions, helped her to break through.

“I really kind of bought into it,” she said. “I think in the past I had always tried to go the sports therapy route where it was more about routine and controlling things you can control and all of that. I felt like I was always good enough at that, but to really start digging in on how I felt about myself and being honest with myself about it, it was really hard. I didn’t want to be the person that felt like I was struggling, but I was starting to really struggle with it.”

“Just being really honest and actually getting help and talking to someone, and not just about tennis but about how I felt about myself,” she added. “Again, very uncomfortable. I never really like to be uncomfortable. I honestly think that had I not done that, then I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Keys’ journey has shown that early setbacks do not define a career. Tennis is an increasingly long pursuit and those who are willing to work on themselves can continue to improve after many years of competition and, eventually, find their way. While she has opened herself up to change, Keys also found her way by going back to basics. Among the many issues holding her back, she could never quite harness her considerable weapons into success.

When her destructive groundstrokes are in full flow, she can look like the best player in the world, but her career has also been filled with moments when her shots land closer to the back fence than the baseline. She has spent much of her career trying to contain her power, to play with greater margin and nous in order to achieve her goals. As she tried to find a balance in her game, she has worked her way through countless coaches.

Over the past fortnight, Keys, 30 next month, has gone through one of the most impressive grand slam title runs in recent years, defeating four top-10 seeds in Danielle Collins, Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka. As she went blow for blow with the best players in the world, particularly her last two thrilling wins, Keys trusted the quality of her shotmaking until the end. She played with total freedom in the decisive moments and refused to back down under pressure.

Keys referenced her tentative play in her heartbreaking defeat by Sabalenka in the semi-finals of the 2023 US Open, which she led 6-0, 5-3 before becoming passive in the key moments. “I didn’t want to be in the same situation where I kind of looked back at it and thought, ‘man, I should have gone for it’,” she said. “I didn’t want to have any regrets for not really laying it all out there”.After a year of change away from the court, the woman from Rock Island, Illinois finally trusted herself enough to attack the biggest moments of her career and maintain self-belief in the key moments. Her efforts have yielded her greatest achievement and have put her in position to achieve even more success.