Madison Keys says she absolutely doesn't find winning a lot "boring" after registering her 16th consecutive win in Indian Wells and prolonging her career-best streak.
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After struggling a bit during three-set wins over Elise Mertens and Donna Vekic, the reigning Australian Open champion annihilated Belinda Bencic 6-1 6-1 to book a semifinal ticket in the desert.
Considering how well the Swiss - who beat Coco Gauff on Thursday - has played since kicking off her post-pregnancy comeback, the expectation was that Keys wouldn't have an easy job at all against the former world No. 4. But the fifth-seeded home favorite came to play and gave no chance to the recent Abu Dhabi winner.
"Getting boring, just winning all the time like this?" the 30-year-old was asked after ousting Bencic for her 16th win in a row. The American responded with a simple "no."
The reporter followed up by asking: "No? Not at all?" Keys responded by dropping another "no."
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Keys hasn't forgotten rough times
Amid her outstanding run, the American tennis star if this helped her erase some painful losses and periods from her memory.
"No, you still remember what losing feels like. That's probably something that you'll never really forget. I don't think I've ever had a streak this long, but obviously would like for it to go even further," she explained.
Ahead of her Indian Wells semifinal - in which she will face Aryna Sabalenka in a rematch of the 2025 Australian Open final - Keys was also asked if she ever before felt this confident on a tennis court.
"Probably not. I think the reality of winning as many matches as I have this early in a season hasn't ever really happened for me, so I think there is definitely a lot of just kind of confidence from all those wins under your belt. I think it kind of gives me the confidence to, in really tight situations, just continue to go for kind of whatever I want to," the world No. 5 said.
