Madison Keys is making her return to action at Indian Wells in her first tournament since winning the Australian Open.
Keys made history at the Australian Open, after beating Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka in back-to-back matches to win her first Grand Slam title.
The American decided to skip the Middle Eastern swing, but Keys still rose to a career-high ranking during that time.
After spending away from the matchcourt, Keys has been practising at Indian Wells alongside the likes of Elena Rybakina and Belinda Bencic.
The WTA 1000 tournament has historically not been one of her best, but Keys could impress at Indian Wells this year.
How is Madison Keys feeling heading into Indian Wells?
With Keys now a Grand Slam champion, there is likely to be a different level of expectation for the world number five.
This is something that the 30-year-old spoke about when speaking on Rennae Stubbs’ podcast, admitting that it will take time to adjust to her new status in the sport.
“I feel like it has been a good amount of time for me to be back on court,” said Keys. “It felt like it took seven to 10 days to finally find my feet again. I think the other thing that is really funny, is that all of a sudden you are dealing with your own expectations dramatically changing.
“I think I have had to be really honest with myself and know that is going to be something I am going to have to work through because it’s a totally normal thing to have happen. But it’s also, nobody really thrives, when you are going out thinking I have to win everything now.
“That is going to be my new challenge and obviously it’s a really good place to be in, to learn how to deal with that pressure, because it means you have to learn some new things. But it’s definitely something new that I am going to have to figure out how to weather the storm that I am creating.
“So I think it’s also been a good amount of time to get to the point of realisation, because at first I was like ‘I’m totally cool, I’m just going to think exactly the same way and everything will be fine.’
“And it was like well you’re lying to yourself. So once we get to the point of honesty then we can move forward and then work that way.”
Who could Madison Keys play at Indian Wells?
Despite being an American player, Indian Wells is one of Keys’ weaker WTA 1000 events, having won only 48% of her matches at the tournament.
Keys achieved her best result in California in 2022 when reaching the quarter-finals, but suffered a disappointing third round loss to Yulia Putintseva last year.
As the fifth seed at Indian Wells this year, Keys will receive a bye to the second round before playing the winner of the match between Anastasia Potapova and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
If she is able to match her previous best result at Indian Wells, Keys could play Coco Gauff, who has a tricky opener herself, in the quarter-finals.
| Indian Wells 2025 | Madison Keys’ Potential Opponent |
| First Round | Receives a bye as the fifth seed |
| Second Round | Anastasia Potapova/Jessica Bouzas Maneiro |
| Third Round | Elise Mertens (28)/Qualifier |
| Fourth Round | Emma Navarro (10)/Donna Vekic (19) |
| Quarter-final | Coco Gauff (3)/Diana Shnaider (13)/Amanda Anisimova (17)/Maria Sakkari (29) |
| Semi-final | Aryna Sabalenka (1)/Jasmine Paolini (6)/Daria Kasatkina (12)/Beatriz Haddad Maia (16) |
| Final | Iga Swiatek (2)/Jessica Pegula (4)/Elena Rybakina (7)/Qinwen Zheng (8) |
Keys will play her first match since the Australian Open on either Friday March 7 or Saturday March 8.