Madison Keys recalled playing Jennifer Brady in an exhibition match one time as the American tennis star funnily admitted to thinking that her fellow compatriot was going to hard and that she needed to "chill" a bit.
Although the season is officially over, several top players have still been getting some action this month through exhibition tournaments. Last weekend, Keys played in Charlotte and defeated Venus Williams. Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova also twice clashed - in New York and Miami.
On the latest episode of The Player's Box podcast - which is hosted by Keys, Brady, Pegula and Desirate Krawczyk - the four Americans opened up on how they view exhibition matches and if they are competitive.
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I played Jenny in an exho one time, and it was literally like my fourth day playing, and she had been training, and she was going full, I was like Jennifer, we are not playing in the finals of the US Open, chill," the reigning Australian Open champion said on The Player's Box podcast.
Brady: I'm not going to just bump the ball back
After hearing about how Keys felt during their exhibition match, 2021 Australian Open runner-up Brady responded: "I feel like the fans want to watch tennis. Im not going to watch someone go and hit 50mph serves, and just bump the ball back, I want to watch actual tennis."
The reigning Australian Open champion then got serious and noted that she also tries to be competitive in exhibitions.
Im definitely trying. Its also a good opportunity, if youre working on stuff in practice, to try and implement it in competitive match play," Keys added.
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Pegula had a bit of a funny statement as the 2024 US Open finalist admitted that she is probably "not good at making exhibitions cool," because she "plays full, but then also not full."
