So close, yet so far – this was the story of Madison Keys’ career until the 2025 AO. She came closer to clinching a Grand Slam title a couple of times, reaching the final of the US Open in 2017 and the semifinal of the French Open in 2018, but both times, she had to return home empty-handed. However, this time in Melbourne, she capped off a memorable Australian swing by winning two titles — the Adelaide International and the much-coveted Australian Open. Needless to say, her husband and coach Bjorn Fratangelo had a huge tole to play in that. But do you know two other guys were also crucial in Maddie’s rise back to the top? The World No. 5 recently gave a shout-out to one of them.

Who else does the 2025 AO champion, Madison Keys, have on her team apart from Fratangelo? Well, the renowned tennis physio, Fujimoto Epperson, has been working with the American for almost two years now. Previously, he worked with the likes of Jennifer Brady, Jessica Pegula, Laura Robson, Taylor Townsend, and many more on the women’s Tour. Epperson has helped Keys regain strength, speed, flexibility, and endurance.

Other than that, the former NFL player Reshard Langford has also been working alongside Epperson to improve Keys’ fitness levels. Langford was a defensive back in his playing days and played for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2009 to 2011. He is currently a certified strength and conditioning specialist and has worked with the USTA for more than a decade. From his NFL days to sitting in the front seat of the coaching boxes during tennis matches, how did this extraordinary journey start? Well, in 2018, Langford first began training tennis players as a strength and conditioning coach at USTA.

Talking about his initial experiences, he said, “I started doing research. I was figuring out how the scoring works, how games work, how you win a match. Even the terminology. Everything was so new.” However, today, he is one of the top coaches in the tennis world. However, what were Langford’s views about the tennis players when he started coaching them?

The Athletic shared a post on Instagram highlighting how Langford initially thought tennis players were “skinny and puny,” as he had seen players weigh more than 300 pounds in the NFL. However, he later realized that tennis pros were bigger, stronger, and faster than he had envisioned. Keys shared that post on her IG stories with the caption, “@lang_r48 🥺.“

Speaking about this renowned fitness coach, Keys previously said, “I’m incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people who challenge me both physically and mentally while also pushing me to embrace my most vulnerable self. His energy and dedication are truly inspiring and motivate me every day.”

Talking about throwing challenges toward his players, Langford likes to put the players on an exercise bike and have them rev up the intensity and resistance briefly before returning to a lower rate of RPMs. He repeats that cycle over and over to mimic a perfect scenario in a tennis match.

Not only that, even during the stretches of recovery, Langford asks his players to keep asking questions about life in general. He says, “If you can’t have a conversation with me, I know we are doing things a little too hard.”

Madison Keys believes Langford has been an invaluable asset to her team, but Keys isn’t the only one that he has coached!

Not only Madison Keys but even Ben Shelton has high regard for Reshard Langford

In between the 2018 US Open and the 2022 AO, Madison Keys made only one major QF appearance. Questions were raised if she’d ever get back to her best or if her time was already over. With the immense pressure of winning a major title, self-doubt crept into her mind. She revealed how she needed a “lot of therapy” to let go of expectations and negative emotions to bring out her A-game once again in crucial matches. Coaches like Langford helped her free herself from the “burden” of not winning a major title.

Non-tennis coaches helping out tennis players is not a very unfamiliar scenario. For example, Andre Agassi once hired the strength and conditioning coach for the basketball program at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Gil Reyes, to help him out in his fitness regime. Even the current world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, has Brazilian Juijitsu expert Jason Stacy as her fitness coach.

Other than helping out Madison Keys, Reshard Langford has also helped the youngster Ben Shelton in his rapid rise. Speaking about Shelton, he said, “I helped [Ben] with his footwork and him being able to move under control and know when to speed it up and know when to slow down and how to slow down properly.” What did Shelton say about this renowned fitness coach?

Well, Ben Shelton has been a Langford disciple since turning pro in 2022. According to him, Langford has a keen sense of when to push and when to hold back. The World number 12 remarked, “I’m never a person who is going to say no. It’s important to have someone who can find that balance for me. Here is not a lift, or a run, or a strength contest I can beat him in.“

Langford helped Shelton with his breathing techniques to improve his performance, while for Keys, it was more about building resilience by doing pull-ups. Do you think more tennis players should hire strength and conditioning coaches from other sports?