Nervous Keys vows to enjoy the ride in Melbourne title defense

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Madison Keys said Friday that she will need to force herself out of her comfort zone and embrace the pressure as she bids to retain her Australian Open title.

The United States player stunned Aryna Sabalenka 12 months ago in a classic final to win her first major crown at the age of 29.

She failed to really kick on from there in 2025 and returns to Melbourne ranked nine in the world.

On Thursday she struck nearly 50 unforced errors in losing to teenager Victoria Mboko at a warm-up event in Adelaide.

"One of my big goals this year is to kind of force myself to be a little bit uncomfortable on court and try to actually implement some of the things we're working on," she said ahead of her opener against Ukraine's Oleksandra Oliynykova.

"As uncomfortable as those are in those big moments, I'm really trying to push myself to kind of evolve and add more things to my game.

"That's really just been my goal all off-season -- trying to learn new things. Then now the hard part of actually putting them in matches."

Keys admitted to nerves, especially as the defending champion, but said she was trying to enjoy the weight of expectation.

"I'm really trying to just kind of embrace that and take it in and soak it in because I feel like so often we look back and we regret that, even in the hard moments that were stressful and pressure and all that, we didn't find all the fun parts of it," she said.

Keys is enjoying seeing her name up in lights around Melbourne Park.

"There's a really cool photo of me holding the trophy," she said.

"Getting to see those, it's something you dream of in your career. Then being able to experience it is really fun."

She added: "I have not seen my name in the tunnel yet (where past champions are listed).

"I hope I can go in there when there's no one else so I can take a picture and send it to my mum."