Keys, Lys get real about first-round anxieties at US Open
NEW YORK -- As the rain left the courts unplayable on Tuesday morning, all eyes turned to the lone WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz match in action at the US Open, Madison Keys' first-rounder against Alina Korneeva in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
After last year's crushing loss in the first round, in which Renata Zarazua came from a set down to win 7-5 in the third, Keys hoped for a far less dramatic opener and, naturally, a better outcome.
She got both, hitting 21 winners and converting six of eight break-point chances in a relatively routine 7-5, 6-4 win.
After the match, Keys confirmed that first-round jitters and anxieties are real, and they can be felt in both the locker room and on the practice courts. Add in the heightened expectations on the shoulders of a former Grand Slam champion, and the inherent pressure of a home Slam, and you have a very nervy scene in the first couple days.
Keys has learned to take it in stride, but that doesn't mean it's easy to manage.
"I think we all kind of laugh," said Keys, who's playing her 15th US Open. "Jess [Pegula] and I were talking about it the other day. You can kind of feel as the days are getting closer, everyone gets here, you have a week, everyone is excited to be here. And then as the days are slowly getting closer to [the] first round, racquets are maybe getting a little slippery, you can hear more yelling happening, and you can kind of feel the tension.
"I think, collectively, we all just get really anxious. We're probably feeding off of each other as well, but we all want to do well. The buildup is always so hard, just because you're so in it and you're anticipating the tension that's going to happen and the anxiety that's going to happen. So it's definitely very relevant and very real."
Eva Lys, a winner over World No. 184 Gabriela Knutson on Court 6, was certainly feeling the pressure later in the day. Unlike Keys, she was playing on a much smaller court, with fewer eyeballs and fewer expectations after falling to No. 98 in the PIF WTA Rankings.
But the 24-year-old was in desperate need of a win after battling injuries all year and losing six of her last seven matches since June. And though the expectations aren't what they would be for a seeded player, Lys' career year in 2025 propelled her into the Top 40, and she's played in the shadow of that number all year.
It's a shadow so dark that it sucked the joy of playing out of her.
"I've been definitely having troubles in some matches because I've had a lot of pressure coming from myself, a lot of pressure from the outside," said Lys, who beat the Czech qualifier 6-3, 6-3. "People were expecting me to play the tennis I played last year, not knowing how I felt, not knowing what happened in the past months to me.
"I've been working a lot with my psychologist the past weeks, because it's been getting to a point where I completely lost the joy of being on court."
She found that joy on Tuesday, with emphatic celebrations after taking each set, matching her best result at the US Open.
In addition to getting physically healthy and in match shape, Lys has also done the work mentally, with the aim of being kinder to herself and not letting her game dictate her mood and emotions.
In her Notes app, she wrote "Give yourself some grace today." It's a simple message, but a powerful one as she looks to finish out the season strong.
"Today was just very special because it was one of these matches where it doesn't matter the score," Lys said. "I mean, I was hella nervous in the first set, really nervous in the second set. But the key to me was just still giving a lot of love to myself and giving myself some grace."
Keys, a finalist at this tournament back in 2017, will play Anna Bondar in the second round. Lys will play fifth-seeded Mirra Andreeva next.
