Tennis star sparks interest for next generation

CHARLOTTE — The city’s first Charlotte Invitational is at 7 p.m. Friday at the Spectrum Center.

Ahead of the exhibition match, tennis star Madison Keys was on hand to help unveil a newly refurbished court in west Charlotte.

She sat down exclusively with Channel 9 sports reporter DaShawn Brown to share her passion for making the sport available to everyone.

“Tennis has brought so much into my life,” Keys said. “My goal has been I want to get as many kids playing tennis as possible because I think it opens so many doors and I think it opens so many doors other than just playing pro tennis.”

Q: At what point did you realize that tennis was not accessible to everyone?

A: I was probably 12 when I really heavily relied on grants through USTA and I went to the Everett Tennis Academy and I was lucky enough to get on scholarship there, because at 10 years old, I just decided I was going to be a professional tennis player. I was just like, that’s it, that’s my life.

My parents were able to help support me for the first two years and then after that, it very quickly became a reality that this was a lot more than we signed up for.

Q: You’ve made that possible for other communities, including North Charleston, recently, where you helped to refurbish a court there.  What’s it like for you to sit in this reality, not only achieving your own dream to potentially spark that for the next young man or young woman who now has access through your work?

A: Starting my foundation and having “Kindness Wins” at least doing our small part in getting more kids on tennis courts has honestly been the biggest success of my life. At the end of the day, winning tennis tournaments is amazing.  I’m not going to sit here and lie and say that I don’t very much enjoy that. But there was just a point in my career when I felt like I had built a platform and people actually cared what I wanted to do.

Q: To have this moment with Sloane Stephens, it appears that the two of you have (built) quite the friendship over many years and now competing against one another tomorrow. How does that work?

A: We have been friends, I think for, going on 20 years now.

I think it’s one of those things where when we get on the tennis court we know we both want to win and we’re going to be really competitive. And then the moment we get off the court, we begin talking about something completely tennis-unrelated.

Q: When was the last time that you played a match in a basketball arena?

A: I don’t think ever. I think this will be a first for me.

It’ll probably be the most seats I’ve ever sat in front of, which might be a little bit overwhelming but it’ll be a really fun opportunity.

You can watch the Charlotte Invitational live on TV64 at 7 p.m. Friday. We’ll also have the Spanish broadcast on our sister station, Telemundo Charlotte.

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