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2026 Cincinnati Open 2026, 20260818, Tennis, Cincinnati Open, Wick Photography, Jeff Dean During the 2026 Cincinnati Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center on Aug. 18, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Jeff Dean /Wick Photography for Cincinnati Open) American: ‘It was a rollercoaster of everything’ By Richard Osborn You never forget your first Grand Slam final, no matter which way it goes. Madison Keys would concur. Her big-stage breakthrough came in the borough of Queens, N.Y, in the summer of 2017, when she powered her way past the likes of Elina Svitolina, Kaia Kanepi and CoCo Vandeweghe and into the first all-American US Open title tilt in a decade-and-a-half. But instead of being a high moment, a point of validation for an athlete long burdened with a ‘Next Big Thing’ tag, it ended in tears and a long, heartfelt hug at the net from her opponent, Sloane Stephens: A 6-3, 6-0 defeat in just one hour and one minute. Nearly a decade later, Keys, now 31, says it was a teachable moment. “It feels like a long time ago,” she said on Tuesday at the Cincinnati Open, where she’s into the Round of 16 for the second year in a row. “It was the first Grand Slam final that I had ever been in, and I think I learned a lot from that experience, just learning how to manage my energy and emotions throughout two weeks. I feel like playing as an American, it was a rollercoaster of everything. I learned a lot from that, how to manage those days at Slams when things get busier.” Keys, of course, would eventually get her Grand Slam title. It came in 2025 at the Australian Open, when only months after her wedding she defeated two-time reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, at 29 becoming the tournament’s oldest first-time women’s champion and the player with the longest gap between their first two major finals in the Open Era. That doesn’t mean Keys, the owner of 11 career tour-level singles titles, has given up on the notion of winning it all in Flushing Meadows. “It would be incredible to be able to put myself in that position again,” she said. “I’ve been able to get close a couple of times [she returned to the semis in 2018 and 2023]. I think it’s really just focusing on the things that are going to give me the best opportunity to get myself back in that position. That and just asking for a little bit of luck, hoping you get back in that position again.” The lessons from that maiden final might just help her get back there. One of them is that you sometimes need to take a break from it all. “You kind of know that you’re going to have some ups and downs,” said Keys, who reached a career-high No. 5 in the PIF WTA Rankings last year. “But I think the biggest thing is knowing when to take some time and get completely away from the court and the gym, just to give yourself a little bit of a break.” “I think it’s really easy to just get in this cycle of doing the same thing over and over again. It can get a little monotonous, and all of a sudden you blink and it’s been two months and you haven’t had a day off. I think it’s really just being conscious and making sure that when you’re on the court you are 100 percent present.”