Before the Australian Open, not many would’ve thought that Madison Keys would lift the trophy Down Under. However, the American star showed her giant-killing prowess to emerge triumphant in Melbourne. Keys defeated World Number 1, Aryna Sabalenka to win her maiden Grand Slam title. Over the past few months, there were some major moments in Keys’ life, and former tennis player, Alexandra Stevenson reasoned out why Keys won the Australian Open title.

Back in November last year, Keys tied the knot with Bjorn Fratangelo, who also happens to be Keys’ coach. The two share a wonderful relationship on and off the court and Fratangelo suggested some tweaks in Keys’ playing style which is paying rich dividends. During the latest episode of the Serving Aces podcast, Stevenson explained the role of Keys’ husband behind the American star’s maiden Grand Slam victory.

She said, “Bjorn was a former player, he retired to become Madison’s coach, just got married. He’s very informative, and he knows what it feels like to have a good racket. So, he was like tinkering with her and Madison trusted her 100% obviously… All of a sudden, her ball was more controllable, she could hit through the ball and not worry about her string.”

Interestingly, Fratangelo was also a professional player until just a few years ago. He even reached a career-high ranking of 99 in singles. However, injuries played their part, and he had to quit tennis as a player and turned to coaching. While Keys doesn’t want to share her husband as a coach with anyone else, she revealed how their partnership started and blossomed further.

Madison Keys reflects on her partnership with her husband

Back in 2021, Fratangelo called an end to his professional playing career as injuries took a toll on him. At the same time, Keys was without a coach as she was struggling to keep pace on the WTA Tour. As Fratangelo took to coaching and Keys wanted a coach, the two were destined to form a partnership.

After her Australian Open triumph, Keys reminisced about the beginning of their partnership and said, “He played as well, he actually had some injuries and he had to retire about two and half years ago and I didn’t have a coach at the time and I basically had to beg him to come with me because he said he didn’t like telling me what to do.”

Further, she added, “We had done such a good job when we were both playing to kind of stay partners and not really blur the lines of getting involved in each other’s careers but it’s been so amazing and to be able to win this with him is just incredible.”

It has been a dream start for Keys this season as she achieved her biggest career result Down Under. It’ll be interesting to see if she can maintain the winning momentum in the upcoming tournaments.