Madison Keys Details Why Ashleigh Barty Is Dangerous to Play Against

Madison Keys has made a great run in this season’s Australian Open. The 2015 Australian Open semifinalist had mixed results in later editions of the competition. But this year she came back strong and defeated some of the top-seeded players to reach the last 4 again. Before her semi-final match against Ashleigh Barty, young American international praises her opponent for her stroke-making.

Barty is in sensational form in the inaugural grand slam of the year 2022. She has dropped just 17 games till now and won all of the matches in straight sets. While talking about Ashleigh’s game, unseeded Madison had all the praises for her.

Commenting on Barty’s ‘slice shot’, Madison said, “I think the reason that Ash’s slice is so good is just that she is able to hit it, really no matter how big the ball is coming in. Which I think not a lot of other women in this era have been able to do.”

Barty has perfected the shot beautifully and even got compared with Roger Federer for the same. Though Ashleigh Barty had humbly denied the comparison, her slice shot does remind many of Federer’s plays.

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Keys further said, “She (Barty) does such a good job at resetting the point constantly, and being able to get the neutral off of the ball; because you cannot do ton off her slice, because it comes in so low.” A good observation put forward by the 26-year player which she will also keep in mind while playing the semi-final.

Barty possesses great returns, even on the service or in the volleys; forcing her opponents to make adjustments constantly. With her plays and returns, Ash makes sure she gets the ball on her forehand and then goes for the finishing shot.

Improvement in service and a potent volley player make World number one Barty a Glad Slam favorite this season. She might just get her hand on 1st ever Australian open championship in 2022.

Madison Keys progress in the Australian Open 2022

The American made it to the 2017 US Open finals, her farthest run in any Grand Slam tournament. But she lost to Sloan Stephen in 2 sets. Her later performances especially after 2018 lacked consistency.

This year though she made some great plays, defeating fellow American and then world number 11 Sofia Kenin in the first round of the tournament. She also got better off two top 10 seeded players, Paola Badosa (ranked 8) and Barbora Krejcikova (ranked 4) in the 4th round and quarter-finals respectively.

Now she is against the best player of the tournament so far. Knowing the difficulty in the challenge, she must be fully prepared for the game. We wish her luck and hope to get some great games of Tennis in the Semis.

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