Professional tennis players are generally well-accustomed to traveling with an excess amount of luggage, but boarding a flight with a grand slam trophy was a new experience for Madison Keys.

MELBOURNE, Australia — When Madison Keys stepped into Rod Laver Arena at 7:37 p.m. on Saturday night ahead of the Australian Open final, she strode right past the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, the trophy that goes to the women’s champion and was placed on a pedestal near the entrance to the court.

Australian Open women’s champion Madison Keys has returned to her career-best ranking and joins three other American women in the WTA top 10, while men’s champion Jannik Sinner maintained his signific

With women’s tennis on the verge of an epic showdown between its top two players with the Australian Open title on the line, Keys, the 29-year-old American, crashed the party. She stormed back against Iga Swiatek to win their semifinal 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8).

Australian Open champion Madison Keys credits therapy with helping her understand herself, and that helped her become a better tennis player.

She is the oldest woman to become a first-time Slam champ since Flavia Pennetta was 33 at the 2015 U.S. Open. This was the 46th Slam appearance for Keys.

Bjorn Fratangelo praised the perseverance of wife Madison Keys after she finally achieved her dream of winning a grand-slam title. The 29-year-old defeated two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling contest at the Australian Open to fulfil the predictions of those who saw her burst onto the scene as a teenage prodigy.

Former teenage prodigy Madison Keys arrived in Australia with the goal of seeing how well she could perform with her 30th birthday approaching next month.

In the deciding set of the Australian Open finals on January 25, Illinois-born, Florida-raised Madison Keys, the 19th ranked player, steeled herself against her opponent, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the formidable No.

The newlywed Keys, whose husband and coach is former American tennis player Bjorn Fratangelo, said after some much needed sleep, they'll be "back to work on Monday" to prepare for "lots of tournaments" including the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells and the Miami Open back to back in March.

America’s Madison Keys have been denied entry into an ATP 250 event because of an interesting reason. The 29-year-old recently achieve the biggest prize of her career as she lifted her maiden Grand Slam in Melbourne.