Madison Keys revealed she has "endlessly" thought about her 2017 US Open final defeat after booking her place in Saturday's Australian Open showpiece match. (Full Coverage | More Tennis News)
Keys beat Iga Swiatek 5-7 💞6-1 7-6 (10-8) in the semi-finals at Melbourne Park on Thursday to seal a long-awaited secon๊d appearance in a major singles final.
Her wait of seven years and four months between her first two major finals is the longe🌃st recorded by any woman in the Open Era, surpassing Amelie Mauresmo's seven-year gap.
The American losꦗt 6-3 6-0 to Sloane Stephens in the US Open final last time she went all the way at a slam, but she insists she is in a better place to deal with the occasion ahead of her clash with two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
She told reporters: "I've obviously thought of that match endlessly for the past 𝔍eight year൲s.
"I think during that match, I was so consu🔴med with being nervous and the moment and the opportunity﷽ and all of that, that I never really gave myself a chance to actually play.
"ඣI've done a lot of work trying to get rid of nerves.
"The people who play amazing in the tight moments, they either don't have nerves 🐲💎or they figure out how to get rid of them, instead of being able to play tennis with them.
"I think the big thing for me has j🦋ust been knowing there are going to be a lot of moments where I'm uncomfortable in the match. It's going to be stressful."
Keys saved m🍨atch point on Swiatek's serve before fighting back to win in a deciding first-to-10 tie-break, and she later disclosed she was unaware how close she came to losing.
She꧟ said: "I had no idea what the score was. I think it was really just abou꧟t trying to get the next point.
"Especially at the end of the match, I really was 🐈just so focused on what I wanted to try to do. I think it helped me because I was just able to solely focus on that."
