Sawt Falasteen - Keys back in Grand Slam mode in Paris after 'elusive' major triumph

Keys beat two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in Melbourne in January to win her first Grand Slam title at the age of 29.

"From the time I was 14, I just always wanted to win a Grand Slam, and what would that feel like? It was just kind of always an unknown," she told reporters at Roland Garros.

"It was just always kind of still the elusive question, and then to finally achieve it and feel that success, have that achievement and then kind of go home and then think, okay, wait, this is the first time that I don't not know anymore.

"It's, I did it."

The 30-year-old American, the seventh seed, faces a qualifier in the first round of Roland Garros, a tournament she has played in 12 times. Her best display was a run to the semi-finals in 2018.

After Melbourne she reached the semi-finals in Indian Wells, with third-round exits in Miami and Charleston on the US hardcourt circuit. On clay, she prepared for Paris with a quarter-final in Madrid and third-round defeat in Rome.

"I know I was basically just horizontal on my couch for a week, just trying to mentally and emotionally just recover," she said of life after her Grand Slam win.

"I think it's just the hard part about tennis is that you have this amazing win and there is a tournament two days later.

"Other sports have months where they get to celebrate it and all that.

"And I think that I have really tried to just kind of take the time to appreciate what I did, what I achieved, and not forget that too quickly."

Her success in Australia came eight years after her first Grand final appearance, which resulted in a one-sided loss to Sloane Stephens at the 2017 US Open.

Keys knows she no longer has that sort of time on her side as she looks to make her mark in Paris.

"The reality is we're at another Grand Slam and someone else is going to be the winner in two weeks. You want to try to do everything that you can to make sure that it's you," she said.

"So I think that's just the biggest thing. Just kind of shifting past goals that you have now achieved and setting new ones.

"I'm obviously at the tail end of my career, and I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be playing out here and be on the big stages and have those opportunities.

"I like to obviously have those goals of winning another Grand Slam."

N.Awad--SF-PST