Madison Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, described a shift in how she approaches clay after advancing to the semifinals of the Credit One Charleston Open following a quarterfinal victory over Belinda Bencic. The comment came at the end of her press conference and reflected a broader change in her attitude toward the surface.

Q. I was curious how you would assess how your relationship with clay courts have evolved over the years because obviously you’ve had some really great results on clay, but I would imagine you probably still prefer hard and grass and how that mentality takes you into the season each year?

MADISON KEYS: I have grown to not dislike clay. I think when I first started, it kind of always felt like it was slower. I think at the start of my career I kind of would try to change who I was as a tennis player. And I felt like I lost my own tennis identity throughout the clay swing, and then you get back on grass and you just kind of feel like everything is front-foot tennis.

So, I think over the years I’ve stopped trying to make these drastic changes to how I play tennis. It’s just the smaller tweaks and how can you actually use the court to help your game. And, honestly, I think I almost like clay better than grass. Right? Crazy, I know!

Keys made clear that she still favors hard courts overall, saying she would “still take a hard-court swing over any other time in the season,” but that the higher bounce and different rhythms of clay have helped her keep more of her natural game. She also observed that grass has changed: “Queen’s Club is still pretty fast,” she told me before filming a video for the tournament’s social media page, and she noted that Wimbledon’s grass has gotten slower over the years.

The remarks invite comparison with other players who have translated clay comfort into success on other surfaces; the draft referenced four-time Roland Garros winner Iga Swiatek’s run to the 2025 Wimbledon title as one example of that crossover. For Keys, the Charleston week appears to be another step in a career-long process of refining how surface adjustments fit her style.

Madison Keys acknowledged during her postmatch media session that reality television is one of her favorite press conference topics. Fresh from a straight-sets victory over Donna Vekic in the Credit One Charleston Open first round, the 2025 Australian Open champion and admitted Real Housewives of Salt Lake City fan paused to update the room on local Charleston personalities and the ongoing Summer House controversy.

“Oh my gosh,” Keys exclaimed when asked about two reality vehicles set right here in Charleston, Southern Charm and Southern Hospitality. “I did meet Venita [Aspen] and her mom the other day,” she told me after a straight-sets win over Donna Vekic. “Her mom is like the biggest tennis fan ever, and she’s so sweet, and it was so nice. And I met Salley [Carson], too. I asked her about her chickens, because someone told me that.

“I’ve been like very obsessed with the other drama that’s happening,” Keys added with a knowing smile.

The other drama she referenced concerns Summer House and the reported cheating scandal involving Amanda Batula, West Wilson, and Ciara Miller. Batula, who recently announced her separation from husband and co-star Kyle Cooke, revealed in a statement that she had begun a romantic entanglement with Wilson, who was previously linked to Miller.

“Crazy! Crazy!” Keys said as she and I attempted to loop the room into this decidedly niche drama. “Guys, it’s like there’s so many things happening right now. And none of them are great. But to be honest, at least we have something to just bond together over.” The No. 5 seed made her position clear on the developing story: she was Team Ciara.

“Didn’t you see that West is maybe cheating on [Batula]?” she asked me, as we had ostensibly become the only two people in the room. “There’s rumors of that now! Yes! Potentially [cheating] with Ciara! No, it’s crazy, and a joint statement was like the craziest PR move I’ve ever seen in my entire life!”

Keys then shifted back to lighter fare, describing an April Fool’s prank she and colleagues pulled on her agent with help from tournament director Bob Moran. “We texted her in like a group chat, and we’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh, did you hear what happened with the podcast and everything?’” recalled Keys, referring to The Player’s Box podcast. “And then Bob also texted her, like, ‘Hey, we need to talk,’ and then none of us responded. She did figure it out. She said she was freaking out for like 20 minutes and then saw the date and just texted all of us that she hates us. It was very funny.”

Iva Jovic arrived at the Credit One Charleston Open as an 18-year-old still refining parts of her game that have powered a swift climb up the rankings. After sliding through an opening-round victory, the Serbian-American was blunt about how much more she believes she can reach.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know what clay was until I was 13,” she said, recalling a late introduction to the surface after growing up in Southern California. Jovic has leaned into that learning curve as the tour turns to clay. “I’ve just been doing movement drills every single day, right?” Jovic said. “So, I haven’t really played a ton on clay in my life, but when it’s clay season, I’m working on my movement every single day.

“So, it’s improved rapidly because of just the volume of movement that I’ve been doing. There’s no secret there. You just gotta do the drills.”

Her rise over the past year has been dramatic. A year ago she was ranked No. 150 and playing a smaller WTA event in Bogota. Since then she won a WTA 500 title in Guadalajara last fall and reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in January, a run that helped her make her Top 20 debut earlier this season. She is currently listed at world No. 16.

“I don’t feel that I’m close to maximizing myself yet,” she said, acknowledging both the progress and the work ahead. Jovic frequently cites Novak Djokovic among her idols and compares elements of her developing style to players such as Belinda Bencic, Jessica Pegula and potential third-round opponent Bianca Andreescu.

She also offered a clear sense of process and self-scrutiny. “I think a lot of tennis players, we’re very stubborn and can be a little bit extreme because we’re just perfectionists, right, and tennis is one of those sports where it’s physically impossible to be perfect and to not miss.

“I try to identify who am I as a player, what is my game style, and then you just build around that. And I try to just emulate certain people, think about players that have been extremely successful in this sport and what do they have that I don’t have—someone who plays similar to you, but maybe you don’t have all those little fine tunes that they have.”

Against Alycia Parks, whom she faced in Bogota a year ago, Jovic highlighted tactical adjustments after a straight-sets win, and described areas she will continue to sharpen.