Tennis star Madison Keys may be out of Wimbledon for the 2024 year after injuring her hamstring, but she (hopefully) won’t be down for long. Keys, 29, shared a video of herself wearing black shorts and a blue sleeveless shirt, training on the court and doing drills on the grass in the run up to the competition. “Prep at home,” she captioned the post. “My champion,” a fan commented. Here’s how Keys trains, stays strong, and is ready for what’s next.
Keys enjoys plenty of healthy fats and protein in her diet. “In training mode, I usually have eggs and avocado toast to start and then maybe have a snack before I start working out,” she told PopSugar. “Then I have practice, fitness, usually try to have some sort of a Kind bar in there just to help get me through. And then for lunch, I’ll have a really big salad with some sort of carb on top of the salad, whether that’s quinoa or rice — something like that. And then at the end of the day, that’s where I usually do fish or chicken, and then I have a big side of veggies.”
Keys is careful to always allow time for recovery. “I think the most important areas to me are energy, recovery, and sleep,” she told Thorne. “If I’m training or in a tournament with matches on back-to-back days, then I focus on those things that make sure I’m physically at my best… Probably the most important advice is to always remember what you put into your body is going to impact how your body performs. But to also find what works best for you because it’s not the same for everyone.”
Keys goes back and forth between cardio and strength training. “I obviously focus a lot on my lower body to have the strength there,” she told PopSugar. “So we do lots of either front squats or back squats and things like that. But also we do a lot of plyos and stuff, so we’ll do a set of back squats and then go straight into box jumps just to keep the fast twitch muscles going.”
Keys likes to mix up her cardio sessions. “I like to do a lot of side sprints,” she told PopSugar. “Today, we did bursts of [Versa]Climber sprints. So a lot of my cardio is obviously quick or short bursts to mimic tennis. So whether that’s shuttle runs or side sprints or bursts of climber sprints, it’s usually 15 to 30, 45 seconds, and then break and then go again.”
Keys trains in the Florida heat, so she’s not afraid of playing or competing in other hot climates. “I do really long training sessions outside when it’s hot in Florida, where I’m based, so I have to be on top of putting the right things into my body to stay hydrated and energized,” she told Thorne. “Depending on where I’m playing a tournament, it could be just as hot as Florida and a match could go a few hours. If my body is feeling good physically, then it allows me to play more freely and focus on my tennis.”