“It was the safest decision" - Madison Keys points at "pressure" as she reveals reason for Paris Olympics 2024 withdrawal

Madison Keys recently revealed the rationale behind her decision to withdraw from the 2024 Paris Olympics. She cited "pressure" as one of the many factors which played a role in her choice to step back from the competition.

Keys and other American tennis players such as Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda, and Ben Shelton had initially qualified for this year's Olympic Games based on their rankings. However, they all took the decision to withdraw from the tournament.

In their place, Emma Navarro, Tommy Paul, Christopher Eubanks, and Marcos Giron have been selected to represent the US team. Other players who will also be representing America on the tennis front include Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz, Danielle Collins, among others.

Recently while speaking on the Tennis Weekly Podcast, Madison Keys explained her reasons for withdrawing from the 2024 Paris Olympics. She stated that the shoulder injury she had sustained earlier in the year, as well as the toll that playing on clay, then grass, and then back to clay for the Olympics would take on her body prompted her to take a step back.

“It was a really tough decision, but having missed the beginning of the season due to injury and it being clay and then grass and clay straight into hard and obviously I had a really big hard court season last year, so there’s also the kind of the pressure pending that as well. It just felt like the best decision given my many, many years on tour,” Keys said.

The former World No.7 mentioned that she is looking forward to the hard court season and felt that withdrawing from the Olympic Games was the "safest" decision for her health and to ensure that she would be able to play the rest of the season.

“It was just the kind of the safest decision for me to stay healthy and try to be able to play the rest of the season. And I think that it’s always kind of a bummer when that’s just kind of how things play out. And it unfortunately was in a very different time zone, on a different surface, so it was not an easy decision to make,” she added.

Madison Keys reached the semifinals at the 2016 Rio Olympics

Madison Keys at 2016 Rio Olympics

Madison Keys was seeded seventh at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She kicked off her campaign by defeating Montenegrin Danka Kovinić with a score of 6-3, 6-3 in the first round. She continued her winning streak by overcoming Kristina Mladenovic 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), and then defeated the ninth seed Carla Suárez Navarro 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the second and third rounds, respectively.

In the quarterfinals, the World No.12 secured a dominant victory over Daria Kasatkina, winning 6-3, 6-1 and securing her place in the semifinals. However, in the final four, Madison Keys fell to second seed and eventual silver medallist Angelique Kerber 3-6, 5-7.

Keys then fought for the bronze medal but was ultimately defeated by the 11th seed Petra Kvitová in a hard-fought match that ended 5-7, 6-2, 2-6.