Keys' royal request to Princess of Wales: Move Eastbourne courts to Wimbledon

Madison Keys is no doubt hoping that winning her third career Lexus Eastbourne Open title last week will translate into another deep run at Wimbledon. But the in-form American has one humble request for the powers that be at the All England Club that could help her do it.

"I've actually petitioned to maybe move the Eastbourne courts to Wimbledon," the 2025 Australian Open champion joked after beating Great Britain's Katie Swan 6-1, 6-4 in Thursday's second round for her seventh grass-court win in the last 10 days. "I don't know if anyone here can make that happen!"

Keys likely couldn't resist making her pitch to one particularly influential spectator.

Catherine, Princess of Wales was on hand to watch Keys and Swan play as part of her day at the All England Club, flanked by British Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keothavong and two-time former Wimbledon men's champion Andy Murray. A longtime tennis fan, the Princess of Wales has served as patron of the All England Club since 2016 and has presented the Wimbledon trophies to champions on several occasions over the past decade.

Despite maybe disappointing the princess, and the majority of the British fans in the stands, by ousting the last local favorite remaining in the singles draw, Keys nonetheless said it was an "honor" to compete on No. 1 Court in front of them.

"When Katie hits an incredible shot and the whole crowd cheers, it echoes incredibly, but it's such an incredible atmosphere to be able to play out here," Keys said.

"Wimbledon is always one of the most special places in the world," she added. "I started playing tennis because I saw Venus [Williams] playing at Wimbledon, so I quite literally wouldn't be here without this tournament. It's just such an honor to come back every single year, to walk the grounds and see the history of the tournament. ... It's just one of those things, when you're a little kid, that you dream of."

Keys has now reached the third round or better 10 times in 12 career main-draw Wimbledon appearances. But despite that impressive mark, she says she's "done the worst" in her Grand Slam career at the grass-court major because she's never been past the final eight. 

"I think that obviously I would love to make it one step further and make a semifinal and go even further and make a final or be able to lift the trophy," she said. "A lot of times the game isn't fully dictated by you. So there's been times where I feel like I have played really well here, and I've simply lost because the person on the other side of the net played better.

"I feel like that's kind of the hard part about tennis where I think a lot of us feel like maybe we underachieved or we could have done better and all that. But we don't always take into consideration that the person on the other side of the net was just better than us that day. And I think that's the really hard part about this sport specifically, because there's so little that you actually control.

"Then I think especially on grass, there's always, I feel like it's just one of those surfaces where things can be going great, and then momentum can shift super quickly. It's just a tougher surface."

Standing in Keys' path to the second week again is No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova, last year's finalist.