Madison Keys has fired back at speculation about her health after getting “a lot of questions” about whether or not she is pregnant following her US Open exit.
The 2025 Australian Open winner has had a difficult couple of months as she has slipped out of the top 20 of the WTA Rankings, losing early at several events – including Wimbledon – before bouncing back with a quarter-final appearance at the Cincinnati Open.
But her return to form was short-lived as she suffered a third-round defeat to Zheng Qinwen at the season-ending Grand Slam following a collapse in the third set.
Keys dominated the opening set as she broke twice to take it 6-1 before Zheng took the match to a decider by winning the second-set tie-breaker 7-6 (7-3). The American then raced into a 5-0 lead and, after the Chinese player finally got onto the board, she came out to serve for the match at 5-1.
She had a match point at 40-30, but Zheng broke back and ended up winning the final seven games of the match for a 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 victory.
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During her post-match press conference, Keys stated: “I just feel like I’ve kind of been struggling for a while now, and I feel like I was able to kind of play through it for a bit.
“I’m sure everyone could kind of see that I was struggling a little bit, but inside it felt probably even bigger than that.
“Some weeks are easier than others, and this week is obviously one of the harder ones just because you care so much. Yeah, I’m going to have to make some sort of changes.”
The world No 23 added: “I feel like I obviously got off to a really good lead, and then I just got really – I mean, got really scared, like I couldn’t swing.
“I don’t know. Tennis just feels really hard right now, so I feel like that kind of took over.”
Some internet sleuths put two and two together and managed to get 10 as they started speculating she was pregnant and expecting her first child with husband and coach Bjorn Fratangelo.
During a post-US Open discussion on The Players Box podcast, Keys explained: “I had a kind of crazy US Open. My second round was a psychotic, crazy match and then I had a rough third round against Qinwen.
“And then I had a little bit of a melt at the press, which everyone got to watch. So, that was tough. So, just trying to figure out my life after that.”
The 31-year-old then came out fighting as she addressed the pregnancy rumours.
“If people could stop assuming and or asking me if I am pregnant, that would be super fun,” she said.
“That’s like the number one comment I keep getting, post US Open. I’ve had a lot of questions of if I’m pregnant and I’m not, first of all. And second of all, even if I was, that’s no one’s business. So, thanks so much.”
Keys will next be in action at the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing with the event starting on 28 September.
