Madison Keys comes full circle, nine years after her first WTA Finals

In October of 2016, a 21-year-old Madison Keys arrived in Kallang, Singapore as the newbie.

It was her first WTA Finals appearance, she was the youngest player in the field (and the lone American, with Serena Williams withdrawing) and was in the company of WTA legends that she admired and looked up to. Names like Kerber and Radwanska and Halep and Muguruza.

Even though Keys, now 30, didn't get out of the group stage -- her only win was over eventual champion Dominika Cibulkova -- it was a seminal moment in her career, and a landmark achievement.

Nine years, eight titles and a Grand Slam later, Keys is back in the WTA Finals, and one of the most respected players on the Hologic WTA Tour.

"That was obviously an amazing experience," said Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion, reflecting on 2016. "It was all of the people that, growing up, were always at the top of the game. So just to be associated with all of them was a huge honor. After that I always wanted to make it back, so being here again, on the flip side of things, is really cool."

Keys admits that after qualifying as a 21-year-old, she took for granted that she'd be back at the Finals again. She came close many times in the ensuing years, but in 2025 she finally had her Grand Slam breakthrough. Keys won the Australian Open, her first major, taking her career to another level and setting the stage for a long-awaited return to the Finals.

This time around, Keys feels healthy and recharged. (She's the freshest player in the field, having not played since the US Open.) It's a stark contrast from 2016, when she played through serious pain during her three group-stage matches. (Three days after the Finals ended, she underwent arthroscopic surgery on her left wrist and missed the Australian Open the following month.)

Though it was a monumental moment, the pain made it difficult to enjoy. With a different perspective, and fully appreciative of the significance of returning after nearly a decade, Keys is intent on appreciating and embracing this Finals experience.

She's not taking anything for granted anymore and is proof positive that players can reach new heights, and make remarkable comebacks, later in their careers.

"It's never too late for anything," Keys told reporters in Riyadh. "I don't think I would have believed that there would be a nine-year gap in the middle of it, but I'm playing some of my best tennis of my career. Sometimes as you start getting older, you start feeling like you're running out of time. It's been a little bit of a perspective change for me, where it's like, there's always time."

But make no mistake: Keys isn't just pleased to be here. She's here to win, and after taking a strategic approach to her time away from the court, is feeling confident in her game.

In addition to recovering and letting some nagging injuries heal, she modified her serve slightly and worked on coming to net more, a tactic that she intends to implement in Riyadh.

She'll need to be aggressive in her opening match against World No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who she's beaten only twice in seven tries. After that she'll play fellow American Amanda Anisimova for the first time and big-serving Elena Rybakina, who she's split six matches with in her career.

She'll likely need to win two of those to have a shot of advancing to the semifinals.

But regardless of the result, the World No. 7 acknowledges how impressive her longevity is. And though she cringes at being called a "veteran," it signifies what she's been through, and what she's overcome, to get back to this stage.

"It's definitely something that I've had to step back and appreciate," she said. "I give myself a pat on the back for staying in the mix as long as I have, still being out here. I don't want to say this is my last. Hopefully there's more in the future. But yeah, I think it's definitely giving myself a little bit of a pat on the back for being a 21-year-old, and now being plus nine."

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