'Crazy' - Madison Keys joins Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with third Eastbourne Open title

Madison Keys admits she has a special bond with Eastbourne after claiming her third title at Devonshire Park.

The American proved too powerful and too classy on Centre Court as she won 7-5 6-4 over her 38-year-old German opponent Tatjana Maria.

"You know, I think it's just a great place to kind of try to get some matches on grass," said Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, to Sussex World.

"I've always loved the conditions and the courts are fantastic and it's just such a great place to kind of be before the Wimbledon madness.

"So I've always just really felt great here and had some really good runs and now I've been able to win the title three times."

Tatjana Maria was a ‘real test’

The 31-year-old won the singles title at Devonshire Park in 2014 and also won in 2023 as she beat another German Angelique Kerber in the final.

"Yeah, absolutely a test," said Keys when asked how difficult it was to get over the line against 2025 Queen’s Club champion Maria.

"I lost to Tatiana last year in Queens and I knew that this surface suits her so well and her game is so dangerous on it.

"So I knew I was going to have to play some good tennis today and just kind of really stick to the game plan and I think I was able to do that pretty well."

Little time to celebrate

Keys has little time to celebrate her Eastbourne success as she's soon in action at Wimbledon this Tuesday against fellow American Kayla Day. She will be seeded 26 at Wimbledon.

She told Sussex World: "No, it's pretty straight to Wimbledon and kind of back to business pretty quickly.

"But I'm going to probably just enjoy a little bit of time with my team and kind of celebrate before we have to move on to the next tournament."

Keys joins Evert and Navratilova

Keys now joins an illustrious group of players to have won at Eastbourne three times or more. Only Chris Evert (three) and Martina Navratilova (11) have achieved that.

"That's crazy," said Keys.

"Chrissie and Martina are such icons of the sport and inspirations of the sport and people that have been so helpful to me personally in my career.

"And they have just been such cheerleaders to my career, so being able to be on the same list as them in any capacity is a huge honour."

Keys: I’m a pretty chill person

Keys has cut a relaxed figure around Eastbourne and has not dropped a set all week. The experienced American has now won 11 tour titles and took the Devonshire Park final and her third Eastbourne Open title in her stride.

She added: “It's always amazing to win a title and to be able to do it for the third time in the first time in my career in one place is a huge accomplishment and something that I'm very proud of.

“But I think I'm a pretty chill person so maybe that's just kind of who I am but I think just kind of enjoying the sport and getting out there and just trying to compete every single day is always the big goal and being able to do that consistently this week has been a huge accomplishment.”